Pride Games At Auradon Prep
by Emersonian
Summary: The sequel to the first fanfic. The Pride Games are here and Auradon Prep has to face none other than the reforms from St Luther Rose Academy. Feuds, friendships, and possible romances bloom as they face one another and Penna De Mort struggles at being officially redeemed from her crimes, which might get complicated with the arrival of a certain royal diplomat from the Fae Realm.
1. Elected for the Pride Games

Chapter 1: Elected for the Pride Games

 _A quick resume from past events_

About two decades ago, Belle and her Beast became King and Queen of a land called the United States of Auradon, which united many kingdoms and many worlds so different from one another. Meanwhile, the villains were all banished to the Isle of the Lost, a special island prison keeping all the villains trapped within a magic neutralizing barrier.

To celebrate their victory of finally gaining global peace and the signed treaties on Pride Rock, all the world leaders from the U.N created the Pride Games, a sporting event that took place every four years where international schools would compete in a series of academic, athletic, magical, and other sorts of events between one another while co-habiting with one another. The way it works is that every international school tries to obtain as many records as possible in order to be part of the four final schools that compete in the games. Representatives from the U.N would then randomly pick the names of two schools from the four and have these two compete and cohabit with one another during the Pride Games while the other two faced one another. This year marks the 5th Pride Games.

But the Pride Games would be different this year.

Before becoming king of Auradon last year, Prince Ben passed a royal decree granting a chance for a better life for the descendants of the villains trapped on the Isle, and through everything that happened from Maleficent trying to get Fairy Godmother's wand to Voldemort trying to gain eternal power and invincibility from the Villains Comet by using his own daughter to do his dirty work, King Ben's decree ended up being fulfilled and now all the teen VKs are attending Auradon Prep.

Which is why most of the VKs wished that their school wouldn't end up being chosen to compete the one school in all of Auradon they personally disliked the most. A school for the descendants of antiheroes, the individuals that villains despised more than heroes.

St Luther Rose Academy.

 _Close to mid-March at Auradon Prep, just as everybody got back from spring break_

Martin Fiske stepped out the taxi after giving the driver a tip. The taxi then left, leaving Martin to look at the front of his school, Auradon Prep.

It was so different compared to Dragon Hall. Bigger gardens and sports field full of heroic and villainous offspring walking together and chatting as if they had been friends forever, the new Malevia Village crowded with VKs getting back in their houses from their spring break, birds chirping as they flew into the blue sky, and some pets chasing one another. While he did miss Dragon Hall a bit, for it was the first school he'd ever been because his father Monkey Fist had him tutored in his castle, Auradon Prep was easier to adapt because, unlike most of the VKs, Martin had spent a majority of his life living in England and barely a five months on the Isle of the Lost.

"Hey, Martin!" Ben and Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, approached him.

"Hello, Benjamin," Martin said. He nodded his head at Mal. "Same to you Maleficent."

"I thought we went over this. Just because I'm legally named Maleficent Bertha does not mean I don't prefer to be called Mal." She arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm British, I call people by their full names. Did you two have a splendid spring break at Arendelle?"

"We sure did." Ben smiled. "The royal ice skating rink was very enjoyable. Although, it's a relief that Jay and Carlos didn't come over. They would have annihilated all the chocolate at the buffet."

"Yes, I heard they're quite obsessed with it." The three teens laughed at the thought of Jay, the son of Jafar, and Carlos, the son of Cruella De Vil, emptying the chocolate reserve of an entire kingdom.

"So, how did it go in England?" Mal switched the subject. Martin's face changed from a smiling face to the one of a pouting puppy that just got kicked out. Ben and Mal began to fear the worst until Martin smirked and pulled out a white envelope, and out of it, a college acceptance letter.

"YOU GOT ACCEPTED INTO OXFORD?" Ben exclaimed as he shook hands with Martin. "Martin, congratulations! You got into the one school you dreamed of entering!"

"Spending days, weeks, and nights ever since I got here to complete a resumé, write a themed essay, get letters of recommendation, governmental legibility documents..."

"Legibility documents? Why did you need those?" Mal asked.

"The Oxford admission office said that they needed governmental validation for my application. My father may have been an alumni at the Oxford archaeology department, but he is a villain. The documents were to reassure the office that I wouldn't commit a crime while I study there." A grimace came from his lips. "After all, let's not forget that, aside from Penna, I'm the only villainous child here who was capable of actual murder, even though it wasn't...intentional."

Ben and Mal nodded, understanding what he was talking about. Martin Fiske had received his mark of villainy after reluctantly murdering his mother when the latter tried to turn her bastard child over to the authorities back when he was twelve and he had tried to meet the mother he never knew. And his latest kill, which had been labeled as 'reasonable yet enough to put Martin in the category of VKs needing rehabilitation therapy', had been during the Battle of the Villains Comet, when he had used the illegal seven chakra blocking on Fa Li Lonnie, the daughter of Fa Mulan and Li Shang and the hero of the day, when the latter had been under the demonic possession of the megassence created by the marks of villainy that Penna De Mort (under Voldemort's hidden influence) and her minions had stolen from other VKs.

"The past is in the past," Ben said. He clasped his hands together positively. "You're getting your dream accomplished, especially since you're one of the graduating seniors this years!"

"I know, right?" Martin breathed an excited breath in, which made him unaware of a certain limousine pulling in. "To think that in half a year from now, I'll be back in jolly old England studying archaeology!"

"And that you will be getting squashed in six seconds?" Mal smirked teasingly at him.

Martin frowned. "Squashed in six...WAAAH!"

" **CONGRATULATIONS!** "

Somebody who had snuck on him from behind with a hug tackled Martin down to the ground. His first guess, much to his dismay, was that it was probably Amelia Hall, the daughter of DNAmy who followed in her mother's footsteps by having an unrequited crush on him as soon as he put a monkey foot on the Isle of the Lost, which made him a victim of her constant attempts to try kissing and cuddling him and a bad memory of when he managed to get a glimpse of her locker and nearly vomit on a passing student when he saw that Amelia had turned it into a love shrine.

Fortunately, today's hugger was not the Sugar Cuddle of Freakness.

"Tough Tigress," he chuckled at Ruby Kyle, the daughter of Catwoman and Batman, as she helped him get up before hugging him again. "Definetly missed you!" He choked as her hug threatened to crack his ribs, making Ben and Mal giggle until she let go.

"Dad told me you got into Oxford!" Ruby clapped her hands in excitement. "You must be so psyched!"

"He already told you?"

"My dad helped finance your application, remember?"

"Yes, I just...thought he would let me surprise you with the news myself." Bruce Wayne, or should we say Batman, had been very grateful for the return of his lost child Ruby and had become her legal guardian now that Catwoman was dead, making Ruby the heiress of Wayne Enterprises. And since he was grateful that her boyfriend Martin and Martin's father Monkey Fist had taken genuine good care of her when they gave her a brief home in their castle back in the Isle, Bruce Wayne had been willing to repay them by offering to finance Martin's application to Oxford.

Mal and Ruby shared a hug. "It's so great to see you. How was spring break at Gotham?" Mal asked. "You definetly look like you're getting used to being a rich kid while not abandoning your VK style." Mal did have a point: while Ruby had been embracing her new life as the daughter of one of the richest people in the world, she didn't abandon her old style, which her father didn't object to. Currently, she was wearing a purple dress shirt under a black leather waistcoat, black pants, and running boots. Her hair had now grown past her shoulders and was groomed in a hairstyle that made her hair look naturally curly. Ruby still went around with the occasional nose and eyebrow rings and cat-themed earrings and her adamantium nails had been arranged by scientist to ensure that they could look like normal nails on a regular basis but retract to their usual form whenever Ruby needed to use them.

"Oh, you know." Ruby shrugged. "Job shadowing my dad so that I can learn to succeed him in running Wayne Enterprises, taking me to the occasional charity event, fund raising parties, basketball games..."

"Basketball?" Martin asked with a frown.

"I know, right? Turns out he and I are into sports as well. Oh, and I got to see the Bat Cave and understand why there were bats trolling me whenever I was in trouble on the Isle. Turns out that since normal bats are so used to Batman and his bat echolocation signals that he uses to have them help him out whenever he needs them, I basically ended up being born with those flying rodents imprinting on me as soon as they see me."

"So you're what? Snow White with bats helping you clean the dishes?"

"Yeah, no." Ruby shook a finger of disagreement. "I don't do that kind of animal abuse. So how's it been lately, other than I heard that you guys went to Arendelle for the spring break?"

"We actually had to cancel three days early," Ben grimaced. "See, we had the... Penna problem."

Martin and Ruby grimaced as well as they both recalled that the reformed daughter of Voldemort was going through a medical nightmare to get the Kraken Acupuncture Needles that Voldemort had hammered on her back to force her undesired mark of villain. So far two had been removed, but fourteen still refused to budge. And the more the attempts failed, the more ill Penna appeared to be.

"How bad is it?" Ruby asked as the four of them went inside Auradon Prep.

"Bad," Mal admitted. "They tried using an experimental machine to see if they could insert a mechanical syringe to pull out by force one of the Kraken Needles, but...something made Penna go berserk. For a moment, it was if she was...her old evil self again."

"The shock she inadvertently created killed the doctor operating the machine," Ben added. "Merlin and his associates are believing that the evil channeled within Penna, the evil that Voldemort had worked so hard to create, is rebelling and refusing to have the Needles removed. So they had to place a special bracelet that nullifies magic on her left arm, and I'm afraid that it's not pleasant at all for Penna, who grew up used to using magic 24/7."

"Do tell," Martin muttered.

' _Attention, everyone_!' the speakers spoke. Leidi Du Wifi, the daughter of Lady Wifi and Auradon Prep's newest announcement speaker, was giving the morning announcement. _'Please proceed to the auditorium. The news will be showing the results for the Pride Games._ '

 _A few minutes later at the auditorium_

The auditorium had been enlarged lately due to the new mass of students. Everyone was sitting down, eager to see the live news on the auditorium screen.

"Oooh, the Pride Games are going to be here! And Auradon Prep is among the four finalists!" Audrey clapped her hands in excitement. "I've been waiting for this my whole life!"

"You've been waiting to compete with strangers from a school you never dealt with before?" Hannah South, the daughter of Prince Hans, asked her from the seat she was sitting in front of Audrey.

"That's the whole point of the Pride Games, Hannah," Eleanor Malcolm, the daughter of King Malcolm and Hannah South's newest best friend, explained as the two girls sat together. "You get your name randomly picked with another school and you cohabit with one another while competing at the same time. It's the whole point of celebrating the alliance of multiple governments."

"So, who did Auradon Prep have to face in the past?"

"Let's see. So far this is the 5th Pride Games and Auradon Prep has managed to be in each of them." Eleanor listed with her fingers. "We had Sherwood High during the 2nd and 3rd Pride Games, and... Audrey, remind me in which Games our school met the Neverland Institute."

"That was the 1st Pride Game," Audrey answered thoughtfully. "And in the fourth it was against Camelot Academy. This year, the four schools in the roster are Auradon Prep, Sherwood High, Camelot Academy, and St Luther Rose Academy."

"Ugh!" Hannah groaned as she slouched on her seat and crossed her legs. "I'll lose my stomach if it turns out I have to compete against a bunch of _reformees_... Hang on, how do we know in which events which students are competing?"

Before anyone could answer her, an annoying dinging sound was heard. Everyone stopped and shut up to pay attention to the Headmistress waving a small bell in her hands and Ben, who stood next to her.

"My friends," Ben said. "This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Pride Games in which we will commemorate not only the friendship between several nations but the union between heroes and villains!" Everyone applauded at him. "Now, in just a few seconds, we'll be watching the news to figure out which school we will be competing against. As we are among the two schools in the roster with the most points, Auradon Prep will be hosting our competitors right here on campus during the length of the games. Please make a note, especially to the newcomers, that during this time, you will be expected to get acquainted with the friendly enemy, so _no_ killing or severe fighting! We don't want to get another accident like when we faced Camelot Academy!"

"Did somebody get killed?" Haya shouted from the seats.

"No, we got sued because King Arthur's son came back from the games with a broken spine." ben grimaced. He and Fairy Godmother got off the stage in order to sit next to Mal, Carlos De Vil, and F.G's daughter Jane in the front row while the lights turned off and the screen turned on with the **World Live!** theme music playing and Andrew and Andrea, the famous newsman and newswoman satin their usual discussion counter while Rafiki and Friar Tuck, this year's U.N representatives, sat next to them. A glass bowl with only four pieces of paper stood at the center of the table.

 _'Another great day for Auradon and the world!'_ Andrew said with a big smile at an invisible clapping audience. ' _I'm Andrew and this is my colleague, Andrea.'_

 _'Thanks, Andrew. Today's the big day when the names of the schools drawn randomly will know who they are facing. This year, we got our usual undefeated Auradon Prep and St Luther Rose Academy and the occasionally elected Sherwood High and Camelot Academy! And since Auradon Prep and St Luther's are currently the schools with the most points out of the four, they will have to host whichever school they compete!'_

 _'But say, Andrea. What if these two schools end up facing one another?'_

 _'Puh-lease! They've been in the Pride Games since the games first started and they never end up competing against one another! I'm sure they'll be like the previous times!'_

"They'd better!" Someone in the VK crowd shouted until the others shushed him. Eyes were staring in anxiety and excitement as Representative Rafiki pulled out the first paper.

' _The first chosen school is Auradon Prep!_ " Rafiki announced in the live news. All the students exploded in applause and cheer. They then silenced down to watch the screen as Representative Friar Tuck put an aging hand in the bowl and let his trembling hands search until they finally picked a paper.

Who would Auradon Prep face this year? Sherwood Forest High? Or maybe Camelot Academy?

"Please be Sherwood," some were begging in the VK crowd, or "Please be Camelot."

 _'Oh my..._ ' Friar Tuck gasped as his eyes saw the paper.

 _'What is it, Friar?_ ' Andrea asked.

 _'Au... Auradon Prep will be facing...S...S'_ Friar Tuck stammered.

 _'Sherwood High? That wouldn't be a first,_ ' Rafiki said.

 _'No. Auradon Prep..._ ' Friar Tuck took a deep sigh before blurting out the words. ' _...will be facing St Luther Rose Academy._ '

Gasps were heard, both from the unseen audience and the entire audience in the Auradon Prep auditorium. The villainous descendants were by far more shocked than their heroic classmates. Facing a school full of children from antiheroes, or 'reformees' as dubbed in evil language, the group of individuals that villains loathed more than heroes for centuries. This had to be a mistake, it couldn't be.

 _'Amazing, folks!_ ' Andrew said while a screen behind their counter displayed an animation of a silver V.S followed by two school crests: Auradon's blue and white crest with Beast's golden head at the center, and the one of St Luther Rose Academy, a roadrunner bursting out of the crest as if escaping an explosion while holding a rose in its beak. ' _For the first time in history, after 4 periods of never facing one another, Auradon Prep and St Luther Rose Academy will finally be facing one another in the Pride Games! Andrea, this is bound to be a Pride Game no one will refuse to attend. I bet Sherwood High and Camelot Academy won't be getting an audience on this one!'_

Andrea agreed. _'And since King Ben of Auradon has had all the teenagers from the Isle of the Lost relocated into the school and we all know from what we've seen and heard that villains and antiheroes just_ _ **loathe**_ _one another, these games will be intense!'_

 _'But do not forget that these games are also about cohabitation, understanding, and friendship,_ " Representative Rafiki pointed out. _'Since St Luther Rose Academy was drawn out as second, Auradon Prep will have to host them, which means that the villains' children will have to learn how to compromise._ '

 _'You heard them folks! So if you're in the audience watching this, get into ticket buying, because the Pride Games are ON!_ ' The screen turned off, the lights went back on, and soon all the VKs were beginning a protesting riot.

"I'd rather be shipped back to the Isle than have to face the reformees! My cousin who arrested me is among them!" Noir Du Feu exclaimed.

"This is an outrage!" David Lapieuvre shouted. "The U.N expect us to compete against the reformees? 90% of them are born from our parents arch-foes!"

"Guys..." Ben tried to reason with the angry students, with no luck.

"They're pure snobs! We had to watch reality shows about their pampered lives almost everyday!" Jay said.

"I _refuse_ to even participate in a race with these losers, seriously!" Edina Lipsky agreed.

" **SHUUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP**!"

Ears had to be covered from the loud scream that shattered every window in the auditorium. It soon stopped and they all saw who had just screamed to make them shut up.

"I barely take my pills and I hear you whining like five year olds!" Penna De Mort muttered loudly as she marched down the steps and towards the front row. She was in quite a mess: loose strands of hair sticking out of her ponytail, wrinkled jacket, and black tired marks around her eyes, and a nervous energy of someone who drank too much caffeine. "These reformees are not so different from any of us. What do you got to complain about?"

"They're our enemies!" Hannah said as the other VKs agreed.

"Is that so? Then don't hang out with Gitane! Her dad's an antihero and none of you have any problem attending her gypsy dance and music classes! Or don't bother being friends with Ruby, who busted her ass trying to fix things because she thought what happened to you during the mark of villainy attacks was her fault! Stop adoring Lonnie, who nearly got killed when she saved all of your lives from my father when he took over me! And just murder the reformees from St Luther's who actually bothered to help you during the Battle of the Villains Comet and get my halves back together even though they could have just gone back home after my minions kidnapped them!"

The VKs paused their bickering and began to bow their heads in guilt, seeing that the reformed witch who used to bully them and their parents for almost twenty years on the island prison was right.

"Personally, I'd side with you on not participating. Not because I don't like them but because I still consider myself as a living hazard to everyone even though Voldemort's gone." Penna bit her lips at the memory of her father manipulating her into the monster she had been to the point of daring to use her for his reincarnation. "And I still have to participate because the U.N authorities insisted that I compete as part of my personal rehabilitation therapy even though I don't want any part in it."

"Is that true, Ben?" Mal asked.

"It's the decision of allied nations," her boyfriend said. "I just rule one kingdom. Who am I to contradict the authority of at least ten other allied kingdoms?"

"So, we don't have a choice?"

"Well it's either that or we go back to everyone thinking we're our parents." Penna shrugged.

Everyone, VKs and Auradonians together, made noises of agreement. Soon enough, they had to accept the fact that they'd still compete in the games. After some cheering up from Ben and the Headmistress, who informed them that their competitors were arriving in a couple of days and that there were still chances of Auradon Prep winning the Pride Games. This motivated everyone and soon the auditorium was oiling with students leaving to get to class.

"Thanks, Penna." Ben nodded gratefully at Penna. She gave a small smile and just stood where she was, watching as everyone left the auditorium, leaving her alone.

"Surprising pep rally, for someone who tried to tear us apart a few months ago."

Not exactly alone: Martin Fiske was still in his seat, sitting crossed legs and arms as if he was trying to meditate on a chair rather than sit properly. His shadowy grey eyes stared bitterly at her bluish ones.

"You still haven't moved on for someone who just got accepted into Oxford." Penna scowled. "I've made mistakes and I'm repaying for them."

Martin scoffed. "You think redemption is _that_ easy? I've done crimes before getting arrested that are not as easy to fix as a deflated car tire that you can simply refill with gas. Have you ever committed matricide, De Mort? Because I have the mark of villainy on my chest to prove it."

"I've done things worst than you because I was born from a villain who managed to terrorize everyone before and after I was born! You were born from a villain whose only amazing stroke of power is a form of simian magic held in idols that he stole from temples!" Penna could feel her anger boiling. "So don't start bubbling your ego on me!"

"Am I?" he asked it so calmly that it began to bother Penna. He hopped off the chair and landed in front of her in a perfect martial arts form. "Maybe I am, but I'm not the one who messed up my life by getting two descendants of Yves in it. The first one shattered my emotions and my reputation...and the second one you ruined her life, making it impossible for me to spend time with her after we started dating. And then you killed her. And now I'm stuck in a situation in which I'm going to have to deal with a past ghost I wanted to erase out of my mind forever and a present flame I'm afraid of burning out.

"You may have resuscitated Ruby, but I will _never forgive you_."

It almost seemed like his eyes were blaring with flames. It terrified Penna.

"Maybe if you hadn't been so easily influenced by your father, then maybe you would understand what it's like to worry about a person you love." He made his way up the stairs and out of the auditorium. "Then again, you don't because you never had true love!"

He shut the door, officially leaving Penna alone. She sighed, letting Martin's words sink into her.

 _Then again, you don't because you never had true love._

She felt something rubbing her leg and looked down to see her precious Naga rubbing her snake head. "Why do I bother, Naga?" Penna asked as she rubbed the snake's head. "Even if I finally reform, nobody's going to want me. I'll be empty-hearted for the rest of my life..."

A tear fell down her face, hitting Naga like rippling water.

Penna: _Empty-hearted,_

 _Nowhere near where I started._

 _Will I ever meet an angel from above_

 _Whom I could fall in love?_

 _I've known just loneliness_

 _And now I only want so much._

 _But can there be any chance in Fate_

 _For me to find a possible soulmate?_

 _I've just desired for someone to care me as this._

 _Someone who'd give me true love's kiss._

 _A kindhearted soul who'd take me into the setting sun_

 _And make me feel like my heart has won._

 _But I'm empty-hearted,_

 _Nowhere near where I started._

 _Will I ever meet an angel from above_

 _Whom I could fall in love?_


	2. Arrival of the Reformees

Chapter 2: Arrival of the Reformees

The day of the St Luther Rose Academy competitors had finally arrived. Everything had been doubly checked: the building where the guests would be residing on campus along with spare lockers, enough food supplies in the cafeteria, and so on. Now everybody was waiting outside in the front of the school, with welcome flags and banners and the marching band ready. For the Auradonians, it almost reminded them of the day they welcomed the first group of VKs at Auradon Prep. For the VKs, it felt like judgment day.

"Are you feeling nervous at all?" Lonnie asked Artemis as they went to join their friends in the front position they were taking to welcome the guests.

"Why would I? I already know who were expecting and I can't participate along with Dia and Kaly because of gods being prohibited from participating in the Pride Games," the son of Nightmare Moon said calmly. "I'll still be cheering for you from the bleachers if you're competing."

"You're so sweet." Lonnie held hands with her boyfriend. "By the way, thank you very much for the new dress. I love it."

"It does make your eyes stand out, doesn't it?" Artemis blushed a bit, making it clear that not even the modern Asian navy blue dress with star glittering prints of magnolia petals could outshine his precious lover.

"They do make a lovely couple, don't they?" Evie winked at Doug, who grinned at her in agreement. The sun was shining on this bright Wednesday and the clock indicated the time being 9:55am. Only five minutes until the competition arrived.

Ruby glanced at her boyfriend, who stood stiffly next to her with his arms crossed and a frown that bugged her. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't looking forward to seeing a certain reformee and it annoyed her that, even after three months since Ruby got revived, he still didn't want to get into any context about with her, the rare person he opened up to the most.

9:56am.

"Let's hope they aren't as annoying as the ones I knew back in 7th grade," Gitane muttered while Charles got his camera ready for taking pictures to make his next UNHOLY GAZETTE issue.

"And that the ones I know won't have suddenly changed personalities ever since the Isle," Charles pointed out.

9:57am.

"They should be here in three minutes," Ben said.

9:58am.

"A flat tire would do just well," Martin grumbled.

"Martin! Not now!" Ruby hissed.

9:59am...

"BUSES AHOY!" Jane Hook spotted from the flagpole.

"They're coming!" Chloe Hook shouted.

"Wow. Right on time," Mal commented.

Finally, about six buses pulled in. The marching band instantly began to play and the students did the traditional welcoming cheer and waving. The buses parked in perfect alignment. They were really stunning because, unlike most buses used for school transportation in the U.S.A, these looked a lot like the luxurious kind a celebrity would take on a tour mashed with the driving style of the British driving on the right side of a vehicle, making it so that the opening doors faced the welcoming committee.

The roaring of a motorcycle introduced the arrival of a biker driving her way through the available space and parking her own vehicle just next to the buses. The biker wore a classic grey biker's jacket over a red and pink plaid T-Shirt, magenta skinny jeans, and grey biker boots with magenta and purple straps. Her skin was of perfect cream yellow value. The biker removed her helmet, revealing the face of a girl close to Ben's age with red and golden shoulder length hair pulled back by a beaded magenta headband with blaring sun patterns, cyan eyes, and honey lipstick. The sun symbol she had on her headband was also reflected on her earrings, and left black cuff bracelet. Her remaining jewelry was a diamond riviere necklace and a right rainbow bracelet.

"Déjà vu much?" Kory whispered to Mal. "Are you sure this isn't a VK?"

"Hi, I'm Dusk Shimmer," the girl said as she walked towards. "I'm the president of the student body staff at St Luther Rose Academy. It's a pleasure to be your guest."

"The pleasure goes to us being your hosts," Ben said. He and Dusk shook hands together. "Welcome to Auradon Prep."

"We've been looking forward to the Pride Games," Dusk said with a smile. "I'm sure that we'll be making some deep connections between our two schools." Her eyes then moved towards Lonnie. "We're especially grateful for you saving those who had briefly been in that sticky situation back on the Isle of the Lost, Fa Li Lonnie." Dusk respectfully bowed her head at her.

"Gee, the fame still hasn't worn out?" Lonnie chuckled nervously as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Long time no see, Dusk," Gitane said. To everyone's surprise, she and Dusk shared a hug. "I see that you've gone from the timid girl I knew back in middle school to the student body staff president. How's your mom doing?"

"Busy lately as the new principal of Canterlot High," Dusk admitted. Noticing the others blinking at her, she realized her mistake. "Oh, my mom's Sunset Shimmer."

"I already guessed," Artemis shrugged.

Somebody stepped out of the first bus: a Caucasian man around his forties, with fading brown hair that looked like they were trying to grow from a two week old shave. He wore a dark green costume over a white dress shirt and a black tie with matching shoes. His skin had slight hints of wrinkles, indicating that he was an aging man.

"Principal Melchior," Fairy Godmother greeted the man. "What a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Auradon Prep."

"Wait, Balthazar isn't the principal anymore?" Ben frowned as Melchior gave Fairy Godmother a gentlemanly kiss on the hand and pulled back.

"The Three Mages have been assigned to take turns as headmasters of St Luther Rose Academy depending on whose immortality needs rejuvenation." Melchior's voice sounded unusually cold for someone living in Auradon. Like he had taken a very cold shower, stepped into the cold weather with no clothes on, and drank iced tea all mashed together. "As Balthazar succeeded Gaspard once the later retired, I took the position after Balthazar had to retire back in January."

"You definetly did...something as our headmaster," Dusk chuckled with a nervous smile that contrasted the bright one she had earlier.

"OK, LET'S MOVE IT, PEOPLE!" A muscular man shouted from the megaphone he held in his hands. "GRAB ALL YOUR BELONGINGS FROM THE LUGGAGE COMPARTEMENTS AND LINE UP! IF I SEE ANY SLOW SLUGS, THEY'LL BE SPENDING THE REST OF THE GAMES IN DETENTION!"

"What about for those who practically _live_ in detention, Mr. B?" A redheaded girl asked from one of the buses' open windows.

"JUST GET OUT OF THE BUSES THIS INSTANT!"

"Now, now, Steven," Principal Melchior said soothingly. "There just children."

"I've been dealing with rascals like these since Middleton High, sir. Most people tend to forget that St Luther's stands right on the grounds of the destroyed Middleton High."

"Destroyed?" Mal asked.

"Alien invasion decades ago and Team Possible saved the day," Martin grumbled. "I still want to vomit about the fact that such good Mystical Monkey Power was wasted..."

"Martin!" Ruby hissed again.

"Eh, don't blame him. I still have to deal with the Stoppable Sequel the same way I had to deal with the First." He gave a rough shoulder pat on Martin's shoulder, nearly crushing him like an accordion. "Steven Barkin..."

"Dubbed the 'substitute teacher for almost everything'!" Dusk whispered at Mal.

"Just don't try impersonating any mascot like your old man did and you and I will get along _just_ fine, Fiske."

"I'll keep that in note," Martin groaned as he tended to his aching shoulder.

The students from St Luther's proceeded to make their way out of the buses as fast as they could and grab their luggage before rushing to line up as if they had been trained to run away from a nuclear bomb. It was stunning on how, for students coming from another school in Auradon, they almost looked like lighter versions of the VKs: dark clothes, unusual skin color, odd hair, and nonhuman characteristics. One of the students opened the luggage compartment of the third bus and water came splashing out of it, releasing two yet teens onto the now muddy road.

"Della Octoposia! Less swimming and more photo shooting!" Barkin shouted.

"Aye!" The girl said in a thick Australian accent. She lifted herself from the ground, revealing that she had four arms.

"Four arms? Like Expertina?" Ruby said while blinking.

"Quite right, mate." The girl pulled out four cameras from her purse and began taking pictures of everyone at every angle. "Four hands are quite useful for shooting photos at different angles." She took a picture of Ben and Mal and another at her classmates getting out of the buses. She leaned on the floor and took a shot of the two headmasters and got up to photo-shoot the building. "Pieuvrella, daughter of the Octopus."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Evie said bluntly.

"Hardly ever does." Pieuvrella shrugged. "But they know my mom best because of..." Two shrill screams cut her off. Everyone paused what he or she was doing and saw that the Hook twins were the ones screaming as they hung on for dear life at the top of the flagpole.

"Ladies, get down from here!" Fairy Godmother demanded as she marched towards them. She then stopped when she saw a green reptilian teenager from the reformee students trolling the pirate girls from the bottom of the flagpole.

" _Tick tock_ ," he said in a raspy tone.

"SAVE US!" Jane Hook wailed.

"No, Chronos! Bad!" Dusk shouted. She and Ben ran and pulled Chronos Vonreptile away from the flagpole while the latter tried in vain to get rid of them and make a run towards the Hook twins, especially after Forkjølelse helped them get down and they were now cowering behind him.

"Othello! Handbag time!" Dusk shouted.

" _Oh, come on!_ " Chronos whined as Othello Traviesa came and lifted Chronos by carrying him on his shoulder like a sack of flour. " _Can you use any pun other than animal skin merchandise?_ "

"No, put you won another ticket to detention!" Barkin said. "No cannibalism, Vonreptile! We had this conversation over and over again! Traviesa, take him with you to the tourney field!"

"Right, boss." The son of Iago and Thundra carried Chronos Vonreptile, who was still pouting, on his shoulder.

"I'm terribly sorry about Chronos," Dusk apologized to Fork and the Hook twins. "He's the son of Tick-Tock the Crocodile, so...you know..."

"He thinks my girlfriend and her sister are like codfish meat?" Fork asked angrily.

"Uh...yeah..." Dusk admitted in embarrassment. "He does it to almost every pirate-related person. Even Jonathan Sparrow and Fillmore Barbossa can't escape him."

"I think I might faint," Jane Hook said.

Meanwhile, Lonnie was reuniting with Cassie and her other friends from home, Hu Xiongmao the son of Po and Tigress, and Meirong Dashi, the daughter of Master Shifu and Mei Ling.

"It's so nice to see you again," Lonnie said after hugging Meirong. "I'm still upset about missing you guys out during the Christmas break."

"We have been guilty despite the pleasant trip," Meirong said. "But now we have about two months for catching up."

"And of course, I've told you about my boyfriend, Artemis Nightmare." He bowed his head in respect.

"We are honored to meet you, son of Nightmare Moon." Meirong held her hands together and bowed at Artemis, with Hu copying her in pursuit.

"Ok, people! If nobody has anymore luggage to take from the buses, we will now proceed to getting the buses out of the way!" Mr. Barkin shouted.

"Would you like us to show you were..." Fairy Godmother began to ask until Principal Melchior cut her off.

"Not to worry, we got it all covered."

Just as he said that, colorful floating glitter surrounded the buses like auras and instantly shrunk them to the size of bus toys that Mr. Barkin picked up and placed in his pocket. "Good job, Trixie."

"Thank you, Mr. Barkin," a blue-skinned girl said. She was rather stunning, for she wore a star and mooned themed magician outfit consisting of a pink corset with only a brown sleeve to cover her right arm while her left was bare and exposed a tattoo of a blue moon and wand, a flowing brown ruffled skirt that exposed her navel, white knee-length leggings with purple star patterns, a magenta cape, and dark navy flat with golden moon clasps. Her white hair with magenta and yellow streaks was both tied up with a star hairband into a bun and pulled up by a bright headband with a small purple witch's hat sticking on it. Her jewelry consisted of moon earrings, assorted bracelets and a ring, a navy blue glove on her left hand, and a wand matching her tattoo.

"Maligna Trixie, daughter of 'the Great and Powerful Trixie'." Dusk waved her hands in exaggeration at the words 'great and powerful Trixie' as Maligna approached her. "Way to go with bus shrinking."

"It's the least I can do." Maligna shrugged. She then looked behind Dusk towards the Auradon Prep students and gasped as if an arrow had hit her. "Sweetie!" She pushed Dusk out of the way and ran towards a male student who rushed towards her with equal joy, revealing himself as...

"SPECIOSUS?" Mal, Jay, Carlos, Evie, and Sean exclaimed together.

"Angel, how have you been?" The son of Queen Narissa embraced the daughter of Trixie. People had to look away in disturbance when the two began to kiss.

"Am I missing something here?" Sean pointed in confusion at the couple. "Since when does he date a reformee? No, actually, since when does he date _anyone_ other than poisoned apples and his own ego?"

"She's been talking non-stop about how they 'ran into one another during Valentine's Day when she went to see the Museum of Famous Magical Talented Beings during that special exhibit on the Sugar Plum Fairy and how it was like love at first sight'." Dusk pinched her nose in frustration. "And then she's gone as far as sharing emails, text, Skype calls, occasional weekend rendezvous, and God knows what for weeks!"

"Says the single one without a boyfriend," Maligna smirked at her.

"A _royal_ boyfriend, if you want to add frosting to the cake," Speciosus added as he winked at his girlfriend, who giggled at his flattery.

"Forget I said anything," Sean muttered. "They're a match made in Hell."

Martin sighed. "Well, so far there's no sign of..."

"WE'RE HERE!" a familiar voice shouted right when a red convertible Lamborghini car pulled in. Five girls came out of it: Melgo Theodora Lipsky, the daughter of Dr. Drakken and Shego, Felindra Gru-Wilde, the daughter of Gru and Lucy Wilde, some green-skinned twelve-year-old girl in a red Christmas attire, a seventeen-year-old blue skinned girl with punk blue hair and a rock punk outfit, and...

"Sorry we're late," Ronilda said as she jumped out of her convertible. The last time she had been seen was during the Battle of the Villains Comet in a biker's outfit. Now she was wearing a dark red cropped topped with a naked mole rat and the words _Watashi Wa Itoshi Teru_ imprinted on it, brown cropped pants, blue sneakers, a brown fingerless glove covering her right hand, a gold watch on her left wrist, orange earrings shaped like her rodent, a blue and beige scarf, and purple shades. Her ginger gold hair was set loose. "We had to pick up Grinchelda from the airport."

"I'll be assuming that you missed your flight," Martin said drily.

"Welcome to Auradon Prep, Ronilda. Glad you could make it, and yes, I missed you too," Ronilda said sarcastically, returning his dry tone with a sour tone of her own.

" _Nothing_ 's changed," Martin snarled. "And don't even think that the games will make me change my mind!" He turned his back and marched back towards the building. The other students, especially the VKs, made way for him because they knew from personal experience that Martin Fiske was somebody they did not want to upset.

"He still won't talk to me more about his issue with her," Ruby admitted to Dusk as they watched Ronilda and her group of friends make their way towards the field. A pink glow came out of Ronilda's hair and turned into a small Gladiola Trollkonge sitting on her shoulder like a parrot. "I wish he'd let me help him out."

"Well you're in for trouble," Dusk confessed, "because I'm afraid Ronilda still hasn't changed her feelings for him even after their breakup."

 _Minutes later, at the tourney field_

Everyone had gathered at the tourney field while Gladiola's teen Troll subjects brought the luggage to the reformees' temporary residence. Each school sat in bleachers on different sides of the field, which made it easier for opposing confrontation. Sour glances seemed to be exchanged between the Auradon Prep students and those of St Luther Rose Academy, especially between the VKs and the reformees, while Mr. Barkin spoke on his megaphone from the center of the field.

"Now I know many of you teenagers don't want to be anywhere near one another at all during the Pride Games," he said. "And such accommodations can be made." Agreeing muttering came from both crowds for reasons we already know.

"Well too bad, people!" Barkin shouted. "These are the Pride Games, not the Hoboken Zoo! For the next two months or so, you will have to go to class together, eat together, live together, and share your own toilet water like you'd do at home! You'll be stuck with one another as you compete, so don't complain! It's part of the tough-but-fair laws of nature we live in!

"Through careful consideration and layout, the student of St Luther's will be assigned to take certain classes that certain students at Auradon Prep are taking in order to create bonding that will put an end to your pathetic family feuds and create one of those touchy feeling memories you won't forget by the time you retire. Meals will take place at the cafeteria, and to spare the agony of our hosts doing extra cooking for us, we have ensured that our personal young chef, Karl Pepikrankenitz, will take care of our school's nourishment." Multiple cheering came from the St Luther crowd.

"Barely a few minutes here and they already insult the food," Jay muttered.

"Gym classes will be taken care of by Coach Jenkins from Auradon Prep and Coach Sabertooth from St Luther's. Events of the Pride Games and who were those chosen for specific events will be mentioned on morning announcements. Detention will be held by me as usual, but most of you already know about it because you practically live in it. Are there any questions?"

"What about tonight's party?" Gladiola shouted from the St Luther bleachers.

"Ah, yes. As per tradition, the guest school is the one who throws a party on their first night here to celebrate making it to the Pride Games, and since we're the guests, we'll be setting up the party. Any other questions?"

Only a cricket was heard in the field.

"Then get back to your stuff! Auradon Prep, back to class, and St Luther, get those party preparations ready! These Pride Games need to be celebrated, people!"


	3. First Party Together

Chapter 3: First Party Together

The day passed rather normally for the students of Auradon Prep from going to class normally and eating normally at the cafeteria without any signs of the St Luther students. It was almost as if the Pride Games had never come.

Sundown finally came and they had to get ready for the party the guests were hosting. Since the reformees were practically busy all day for setting up the party in the gardens where Family Day usually took place and actually managed to ensure that none of their hosts could even get a peek, who knew what they had set up?

"I'm going to guess it's going to be a vibrant party if Gladiola and her teen Troll subjects are around," Feige Blomstroll said. She was walking with Mal and Ben through Malevia Village in order to bring some schoolbooks to Penna. Lotus, her giant pet bumblebee, flew by her side. "Trolls just _love_ to sing and dance."

"One thing I still don't get is why she brought over the teens from her kingdom," Mal admitted. She and Ben had joined Feige so that they could also check up on Penna, for they hadn't see her at all today. She didn't even show up during the welcoming of the reformees.

"She's Troll royalty and the perfect picture of her parents!" Feige groaned. "Everyone in Bergen Town just _loves_ her! Back when Dårlig and I were still on the Isle Of The Lost, we had to watch reality shows broadcasted live from Bergen Town with our parents. Everyday, they kept saying how she brought joy to everyone just like her mother Poppy and was as reliable and resourceful as her father Branch and that everyone couldn't wait for her coronation!"

"I don't see the harm in all that," Ben admitted.

"Try being locked up in an island prison and watch a show bragging about your parents' personal enemy and you'll understand," the daughter of Creek said with a shrug. Lotus buzzed with her in agreement. They walked a few more small streets until they reached the end of Malevia Village, where the only house resided by a VK was the one of Penna De Mort. Like all the VKs with houses in Malevia Village, Penna had her house fashioned in her own style: a cottage sized gothic with black roses and serpent shaped bushes decorating the front garden and the forest blocking from behind. But now it had gone through seriously dramatic changes. It would seem like Penna took the liberty of adding a barbed fence and monstrous thorns to grow from the ground and cage the cottage. Even the plants seemed to be withering.

"OK, either Penna is getting paranoid or Florence hasn't stopped by to do the gardening," Mal said. Fortunately, the fence wasn't tall enough to block them, so they just jumped over it, pleasing Mal and Feige, who enjoyed jumping over property back on the Isle. They then spotted something green and red talking to Penna at the front door and instantly recognized it as the Christmas attired girl who had arrived earlier with Ronilda and her gang. As they walked closer to them, they noticed that the Christmas girl was giving a purple wrapped present to Penna.

"It's so sweet of you, really," Penna said, "but I can't accept this."

"Don't be silly!" the Christmas girl giggled before saying in cheerful, but sincere glee. "Everyone deserves to get a special present, and this will definetly cheer you up!"

"But..." Penna began to protest until the girl got in a begging pose and nearly began a puppy pout. "Oh no, please don't pout!" Penna begged, but it didn't seem like the Christmas girl was giving up. "OK, you win."

"Yay! I'll see you at the party!" She began to make her way out.

"I'm not going, " Penna said. This stopped the girl on her tracks and stunned Ben and Mal as well.

"You're not going?" Mal asked, her eyes wide open.

"Penna, why are you doing this to yourself? You already missed the welcoming, can't you at least attend the party?" Ben said.

"What's the point?" Penna exclaimed. "Even if I did go, none of the reformees will want to go near me, and I highly doubt that most of them have accepted the notion of Voldemort's daughter reforming after all the things she did to make everyone miserable!"

"Easy there, mate." Feige put a hand on Penna's shoulder and took some deep, demonstrative breaths. "Come, let's go back inside for our usual afternoon meditation timeout. Lotus will make her usual honey nectar for us as we try to help you achieve inner peace."

"Thanks, Feige." Penna the nodded at the Christmas girl. "Thank you again for the present." She then followed Feige and Lotus back inside her house, closing the door behind her without even making a creaking sound.

"She doesn't go out much, does she?" the Christmas girl pointed her thumb at the door while addressing Ben and Mal.

"She usually did back on the Isle but that's because she was still, you know..." Mal said.

"I know, I know." The Christmas girl hopped over the fence with them and whistled something that sounded like the first notes of 'Jingle Bells'. A barking was heard and a Bichon Frise puppy with a pink bow on her neck came running at them and jump on the Christmas girl, who giggled as the cute thing licked her on the face.

"Alright, alright!" She giggled before suddenly changing into a serious and snapping at the puppy. "STOP THAT!" Ben and Mal were stunned by the strange attitude of the girl as she straightened her red holly-patterned Christmas shirt and minty green skirt from any wrinkles caused by the puppy. Her hands covered by red opera gloves and star charm bracelets then picked up the puppy. "I love you, Maxine, but don't forget: fleas before beauty!"

"Carlos should tell that one to his mom," Mal giggled as the three of them started to make their way out of Malevia Village. "By the way, how come you're not with the other reformees..."

"Whoa, slow down, Purple!" The Christmas girl cut her off. "I find it very insulting to A, not start new acquaintances without proper introductions, and B, using 'reformee' sounds very racist. And trust me, my old man has taught me to _never_ take racism well."

"Oh, sorry," Mal said apologetically.

"So here's how to properly start an acquaintance." The girl shook hands with Mal in a very quick manner as if she had drunk a lot of caffeine and sugar at the same time. "Nice to meet you, I'm Grinchelda May Whovier, I'm twelve, and I'm from Whoville. My dad's the Grinch and he runs a big Christmas delivery incorporation on Mt Crumpit, and my mom's Martha May Whovier, a super rich and pretty lady from Whoville known for being Whoville's 'Lady Christmas', which is like a pageant. I love any holiday but Christmas is my favorite, I enjoy giving people presents, and my favorite foods are peppermint tea and chocolate mint cookies. This here is my puppy Maxine, she's my dad's dog's Max's puppy, and I had her for I don't know how long. I'm sure we'll be great friends as long as you don't insult me."

"OK," Ben said while Mal blinked at how quickly Grinchelda managed to get so many details in one introduction. "So what kind of insults do you hate?"

"Oh, you know. Being called hairy, greenie, or ridiculous because of my Christmas obsession, my hyperactivity, and my sense for mechanics." Grinchelda listed everything calmly until she leaned in and faced Ben by a mere five inches, glaring at him murderously. "Use any of these insults and I _will_ be using an electric razor on your precious locks!"

"OK, we get the warning!" Mal pulled Ben away from Grinchelda. "So nice meeting you, I'm Mal, Maleficent's daughter, and this is my boyfriend, King Ben of Auradon. He likes to help others out and I like art and magic and anything purple. And as I was asking before, how come you're not with the others from your school? Shouldn't you be helping them prepare for the party?"

"Yeah, no. I'm more of a party animal," Grinchelda made partying gestures, "than a party helper. Besides, the last time I tried to help set up for a party, that annoying son of a lemur Julien messed up the system I built for the lights because 'his booty needed more flashy lights for his hustley music', and then we had to call the Middleton Fire Department when a fire resulted from his actions and burned a good portion of the gym." Grinchelda sighed and looked at Maxine. "We never have any luck with the gym." As if to agree with her, Maxine barked.

"So you're into mechanics and you're only twelve?" Mal raised an eyebrow in impressment. "To think that Carlos learned how to hack computers when he was thirteen!"

"So are you looking forward to cheering for your school during the Pride Games?" Ben asked Grinchelda.

"What are you talking about? I _am_ registered to participate in the games."

Ben stopped in his tracks. "What? But only high school leveled students are allowed to participate!"

"Not unless you're a jumpee, which is slang in St Luther's for a kid like me to jump school levels because of advanced talents or high IQ. I started going to St Luther's just last year, but they moved me from six grade into tenth grade because they caught me crafting a flying sleigh like my dad's using what I could find in the dumpster." Grinchelda grimaced in embarrassment, revealing yellow, yet properly brushed teeth. "And also because they freaked out when I built a functional nuke on my midterm."

Ben and Mal blinked at her as they registered the words she had just said.

"Well, it was nice knowing you, but I'd better get back before Mr. Barkin realizes that I snooped out, so see you at the party!" Grinchelda began to run ahead towards the gardens where the party was being prepared with Maxine following her.

"Hey, what you did with giving Penna a present was really nice!" Mal shouted. "Why did you do it?"

"Because she looked like she deserved it!"

 _Past sundown_

It was finally dark outside. A perfect environment for the party that the reformees were hosting. Even from the hallways, the party's vibrations could be heard as Ben, Mal, Audrey, Jay, Jane, Carlos, Evie, Doug, Lonnie, and Artemis made their way to the party from the hallway leading to the dorms.

"That's quite some music," Doug said while Evie straightened his tie. "I bet the St Luther students know how to host a party."

"Let's not lose our heads just yet," Artemis warned. "This may be a party, but it doesn't change the fact that there's bad blood between the villainous descendants and those of antiheroes. We need to stay on guard throughout the next weeks, including tonight, and prevent any possible sign of violent conflict."

"And we will," Lonnie reassured her boyfriend, "but let's not worry too much about it."

"Lonnie's probably right," Carlos said as they reached the doors. "I mean, how bad can they be?"

Sudden neon lights hit them in the eyes as soon as the doors were fully open, nearly blinding them. When they had a better look, they nearly lost their jaws when they saw that, in less than a day, the reformees had turned the gardens into a big, loud, and crazy party. Neon lights were blaring in so many colors and living shapes from the speakers of the DJ set, which were being managed by none other than Dusk Shimmer herself and a small red male Troll in a DJ outfit and whose hair was shining in neon colors that switched colors as he danced on the disks, creating neon sonic waves from the music Dusk was playing. Students from both schools were dancing and cheering as one of the reformees, a humanoid creature who looked like a skeleton, threw her large red sombrero hat in the air like a Frisbee, making it pop into a shower of marigolds that turned into a disco ball.

"OK, this isn't something you see everyday," Carlos said as they walked into the party. Glitter suddenly exploded in the sky. When they looked up, they saw the most giant purple monarch butterfly ever fly above their heads as Gladiola rode it like a steed. Two boys, one in Aztec imperial robes and the other with black-and-white Madagascar lemur clothes, threw some glittery Trolls in the air from the butterfly's back.

"BOOM, BABY!" the Aztec one said as the glittery Trolls spit or pooped glitter to make the party alive.

"YEAH, YOU KEEP GOING WITH THE GROOVY, BRO!" the one in black-and-white Madagascar lemur clothes whistled while high-fiving the one in Aztec clothing.

Suddenly, one of the glitter balls spitted by one of the glittery Trolls hit one of the dancing Trolls, a golden mustard skinned, royal blue haired girl wearing a cute spring dance dress made of glittery blue and pink colors. The Troll girl flew and landed halfway across the dance floor.

"SMITTEN!" Gladiola made her large butterfly halt in its tracks as well as making the party pause to make sure that Smitten was alright. Ben and the others began to make their way and see if she was hurt until Smitten jumped on her feet like she had been exposed to hyper-energy like Grinchelda, only Smitten's face was covered in glitter.

"YELLOW!" she screamed in a deep, masculine voice that did not match her cute girl appearance. They cheered when they saw she was OK and continued to party as if Smitten hadn't just been hit by Troll glitter.

"That was quick," Lonnie noted.

"For the daughter of Smidge, one of Troll Queen Poppy's close friends, I wouldn't be surprised if Smitten were like her mother," Artemis said. A sharp whistle got their attention.

"Hey, Dragon Demon!" They turned to look at who was whistling at them and saw Feige and Dårlig sitting with four reformees at a table not too far from the buffet. One of the reformees, who looked very familiar, was waving at Lonnie.

"The Penguin Cousins!" Lonnie and the others went to join them at the table. "Cassie warned me that you were calling me 'Dragon Demon' ever since what happened on the Isle of the Lost!" Lonnie chuckled as she shook hands with Rookie Skipper, the son of Skipper the Penguin and the eldest one among the cousins.

"You were quite terrifying!" Rookie chuckled before turning to Lonnie's friends. "So we got a Pony Boy, Green Dwarf, Vanity Queen, Puppy Whisperer, Wingless, Tourney Champ, Sleepy Cheerleader, Purple, and Kingly here. A pleasure to meet you. Except for Pony Boy. We already knew him when we saw him exploding into oblivion."

"Yes, because _someone_ tried to play hero." Artemis frowned at Lonnie. "You know, I'm still annoyed that you risked your life!"

"I did the right thing and you know it!" Lonnie said sternly before saying in disgust: "Although, thanks to the Creep Master, I have grown a hatred for cosmetics and I'm wearing more concealing shirts or dresses in order to hide the mark I ended up getting on my chest!"

"Slumber parties must be a no for you, then?" Genny Kowalski, the daughter of Kowalski the Penguin and the most intelligent among the cousins, asked while she and Feige were drinking punch together.

"Yum, this berry and pineapple punch is the best!" Feige said as she enjoyed the punch and drank it so rapidly.

" _Mushy mush-mush?_ " Rita Rico, the daughter of Rico the Penguin and the wild card among the Penguin Cousins, said in a series of sounds and unintelligible words that apparently only the Penguin Cousins could translate.

"Rico here says: 'What is it with Trolls liking berries so much? They're so mushy!'" Genny translated.

"You can actually understand what she's saying?" Audrey asked as she and Jay sat down next to Feige and Dårlig.

"It takes about a good lifetime of living together to understand anything Rita says," Secret Private said as he pulled out a kettle full of party punch and filled two teacups with it before giving them to Audrey and Jay. The son of Private the Penguin straightened his tie. "Uncle Rico and Rita's dialect is not too different from those of a walrus screaming in German and Japanese while getting hit by a truck at the same time." The Auradon Prep students just stared at Secret with blinking eyes.

"Trolls need to eat at least one thing that's made out of berries in order to consume energy. Berries are just a required part of their metabolism," Dårlig answered Rita's earlier question while his left hand gently caressed the knuckles of Feige's right hand affectionately. The daughter of Creek blushed a bit at her boyfriend's gesture.

"This is some amazing party," Carlos said. He pointed at the party's liveliness. "You guys really know how to plan things like that."

"Oh, you know." Genny shrugged. "So of the reformees at St Luther's are the kinds of party animals that are almost as happy-go-lucky as the Trolls." She looked up at the giant butterfly Gladiola was riding with the two boys who threw glittery Trolls in the air and pointed at them. "My cousins and I already know Julien. He's the son of King Julien..."

"So he's King Julien Junior?" Jane asked.

"Nah. That Ringtail already existed." Rookie slouched on his chair and grumbled. "Turns out that the King Julien our old men know was the thirteenth and we are stuck with Number Fourteen, Julien Lemur XIV. And if one party lemur wasn't enough, Ringtail XIV got himself the ideal BFF in school." He pointed at the Aztec boy with Julien. "Narcisisto Kuzco, the son of Emperor Kuzco."

"Oh, that guy." Ben had some vague memories of knowing Narcisisto among the royal children he occasionally played with whenever his parents were holding parties with other monarchs. Most of the memories involved Narcisisto being vain and grabbing others' toys: clearly, even when he was five, the son of Narcisisto got his father's belief that the world revolved around him.

"Say, where's Penelope?" Secret asked Feige.

"Penna's back in her house," Feige said grimly. "She's terrified of getting near anyone ever since she got her halves back together. I'm afraid that Voldemort has managed to raise her so badly enough that even after his defeat back in January, she's still traumatized by the mere memory of him and she's afraid of contaminating others with that."

"Scientifically speaking, it's impossible," Genny cut in.

"But magically, it is," Dårlig said. "With all the evil Voldemort had forced into Penna, it makes it even agonizing when the doctors try to remove her Kraken Needles or when the other descendants at Auradon Prep try to contribute into reaching out for her. She even got a bracelet that's supposed to nullify her magic after her evil somehow broke free for a few seconds and killed one of the doctors who tried to pull out one of her Kraken Needles."

"Great Scott!" Secret gasped.

"So it's still that bad?" Evie asked.

"I don't think it's getting better." Feige shook her head. "Earlier today, Dårlig and I had Ingwer Hexe come over and see if we could do something small that was both good and social like baking cupcakes, but every time Penna tried to make some, she either got herself a rotten cupcake or a nest of baby snakes coming out of the oven. And earlier today, one of your classmates - the Grinch's daughter, came over to give a present to Penna..."

"May Whovier does that," Rookie said. "If she's not trying to hoard anything holiday-related or building some sort of machine, she'll be handing out presents to anyone for any reason."

"I see. Anyway, she gave Penna this homemade music box where a friendly baby snake toy would twirl when the music played. Penna _really_ liked it when she first heard it, but as soon as she wanted to replay it, it burned and she got a live, grown-up viper hissing her an awful lullaby tune that Bloodyle told me Voldemort used to 'sing' to her as an infant to mock Penna and practically tell his daughter that if he didn't do as he said, he'd do horrible things to her."

"How horrible are we talking?" Mal asked. To answer her question, Feige got off her chair and went under the table. The others frowned at Dårlig, who made a hand gesture telling them to wait. Then, they heard Feige singing in a tone that sounded like a creepy music you'd hear coming out of a jack-in-the-box toy.

Feige: _Nasty, nasty, little viper_

 _Misbehave and your bed will have spiders._

 _Master doesn't like when you disobey._

 _Here's what I'll do if you make that mistake!_

Then, like jumping out of a cake, Feige bursted out of the center of the table, literally breaking the table and ripping the cloth, and gave the hardest slap ever at Mal's cheek. The daughter of Maleficent screamed so loudly that everyone at the party stopped what they were doing. Even Dusk stopped playing her music.

"And _that_ is how horrible we're talking, Mal!" Feige said as she went back down under the table and came out while Ben tended to Mal.

"You didn't have to actually slap me!" Mal snapped. "Ow!"

"What? You think Voldemort gave Penna a rub on the back when he told her this stuff?"

"Yo, is it too much to be asking for enjoying the groovy and the booty shaking?" Julien XIV shouted from the large butterfly. Many of the reformees and some of the Auradon Prep students who actually bothered to have a good time with their competitors were muttering in equal protest. Fortunately, Mr. Barkin intervened.

"Alright, people! It's almost 10pm and I want to see a majority of my rascals getting some shut eye before joining Auradon Prep in their classes tomorrow!" He shouted and clapped his hands together. "So let's get moving!"

"AWWWWW!" the students complained.

"This is _not_ going to be easy." Artemis shook his head while talking to Lonnie. "At this rate, Penna's recovery will be much harder, especially since there quite a number of antiheroes who hate her as much as the number of villains who feared her. She might as well be putting herself in an ironic death sentence."

"Poor Penna," Lonnie sighed. Artemis comfortingly put an arm over his girlfriend's shoulders as they left the now finished party to go back to a more quiet atmosphere.


	4. First Day Together

Chapter 4: First Day Together

Usually, Thursday mornings were like any other morning at Auradon Prep. Students would wake up, greet one another warmly as they walked down the hallways to go take a shower in the bathrooms, and walk together to the cafeteria where they would grab breakfast, eat, and chat with one another through conversations that usually had these lines: 'Can you believe the amount of homework that teacher gave us?' 'Such a cool outfit you're wearing today!' 'Did you hear Melody's latest hit song on the radio? It's _so_ rad!' And between the Auradonian students sleeping in the dorms and the VKs living in Malevia Village, they would get up to meet one another by the doors to go have breakfast together like a friendly routine.

But this was not one of those Thursday mornings. As soon as Ben and Mal and a couple of their friends went inside the cafeteria for breakfast, they felt as if this was not the cafeteria they usually ate at in Auradon Prep. Like two feuding factions, a grand majority of the St Luther Rose Academy students were sitting in one particular area of the room while most of the VKs sat in the other area, both groups sharing occasional disgusted glares at one another and not daring to exchange words. This did make it rather awkward for all the Auradonian kids and the few VKs and reformees who actually dared to sit with one another.

After looking all over, Ben and co managed to find a spare table occupied by Lonnie, the Bartok sisters Ariel and Hermia, and Jezebel Rasputin, the daughter of Rasputin.

"Way to go on the entire 'cohabitation', Benjamin," Jezebel said snidely when they sat down. "Almost 50% of Auradon Prep is at throats with St Luther." She toyed with her spoon as it stuck out of her porridge.

"I know it's rather complicated the history that villains and antiheroes share with one another," Ben said as he sat down, "but none of us are like our parents. Can't you see that this is only about giving each other a chance?" He tried to give a convincing smile.

"Jezebel's kinda right," Hermia Bartok said, breaking the positivity Ben had tried to bring in. "Most villains were defeated by antiheroes than by heroes in the past and antiheroes share their personal grudges with villains because sometimes, most antiheroes used to be evil henchmen who quit being evil after they had enough of their bosses' abuse and all."

"Take our dad, Bartok the Bat, for instance," her sister Ariel supported the former's point. "First, he ditches Rasputin after he had enough of the old man abusing him despite our dad being loyal for years, and then Dad becomes a hero in Russia after defeating Ludmilla with a tower full of water when she turned into a dragon."

"We're not trying to insult you our anything, Jez," Hermia said quickly, but sincerely as Jezebel ate her porridge.

"S'OK. Besides, your old man was right when he told mine to get a life." Jezebel shrugged. "Kicking me out of the house so that I could go to Auradon was probably the best thing he ever gave me in my life."

"How come Artemis isn't with you this morning, Lonnie?" Mal asked Lonnie. "Doesn't he usually have breakfast with you in the morning?"

"The day didn't even start yet and right when Artemis comes knocking on my door for the usual morning walk towards the cafeteria, he gets both a vision and later Fairy Godmother coming and telling him that Pinkamenus already got into trouble at the kindergarten."

"Who's Pinkamenus?" Hermia asked.

"Son of Pinkamena Diane Pie. One of the few pony kids who survived Nightmare Moon nuking almost all of the Infinite Forest of Evil," Jezebel said as she finished her porridge. "He's this annoying pink toddler that Pony Boy is raising."

"In his defense, Artemis' mom kinda executed Pinkamena Diane Pie after she nearly threatened to eat most of Nightmare Moon's subjects," Lonnie said. "And well, you know..."

"Artemis took him in out of pity?" Ariel guessed.

Lonnie nodded. "I mean, Pinkamenus isn't _all_ that terrible. He's like a hyper, annoying younger sibling to Artemis."

"Not a problem, I got seven of those at home. One of them is sitting by me." Hermia teasingly glanced at Ariel, who just glared at her unamused. The latter went back to the main topic in order to ignore her sister. "So Artemis being the kid's guardian is the reason why Pinkamenus is in Auradon even though, from what I heard, your folks and Ben here agreed together that all you VKs would permanently reside in Auradon as soon as you hit fourteen? Jezebel told us about that new rule."

"Should have been seven rather than fourteen," Jezebel mumbled.

"Pretty much," Lonnie answered Ariel's question. "They say it's not good for a child to be left abandoned without a parent in the Isle Of The Lost."

"I can confirm that," Mal said. "It happens very much when we get kids from juvenile halls who get shipped to the Isle from Auradon, and since sometimes villains don't really take juvie kids seriously for an evil career, they try to dispose of them. Either through slave or cannibalistic markets. Or if a juvie gets pregnant and gives birth on the Isle, they just hand the babies over to the Candy Witch. On a scale from one to ten, the number of juvie babies that Ingwer Hexe has eaten since she was a kid would have probably been eight."

The Bartok Sisters gulped. "And the other two?"

"Babies abandoned by their parents at birth or those who died in their mothers' wombs. The Isle's not very well-known for having great health and parents."

The main screen in the cafeteria turned on and Charles Frollo was on with his morning announcement through the UNHOLY GAZETTE. Everyone waited to hear what he had to say.

 _'UNHOLY GAZETTE, where news are more than just sinful_ ,' Charles began his announcement. ' _Rise and shine, Auradon Prep and guests! It's a brand new era of the Pride Games and everyone's so excited, especially since today, we'll be knowing what the first event is!_ "

This caused whispers among the crowd. The first event of the Pride Games was being announced?

' _For those of you who don't know, there are three main areas in the Pride Games._ ' Charles listed them as three icons popped on the screen: one with a graduating character, the next one being a running character, and the last one being a character standing among a shower of stars. ' _These areas are academics, athletics, and supernaturalics. None of these are in a specific order, so the events related to the areas could happen any time._ ' He pulled out an envelope with the traditional stamp of the Pride Games on the back. ' _In this envelope is the name of the first event taking place, along with the students from each school chosen to compete, and the judges who will be attending._ ' Everyone watched the screen as Charles opened the envelope and pulled out a typed paper from which he read.

 _'So it would seem like the first event is going to be this Friday afternoon and the competition is will be from the academic area: cooking contest.'_

"Tomorrow?" Almost everyone said in the cafeteria.

"That doesn't give much time to prepare!" Audrey complained.

 _'The judges will be announced later one. Now, concerning the participating students...'_

 _Later, during the second period Home Economics class_

Izzy Yzzi, Ingwer Hexe, Dårlig Bergen, and Audrey stood at their cooking counter while waiting for the teacher to come. As they did so, they read a book concerning the guidelines of all the existing Pride Games events, especially for the cooking contest.

"It says here that the cooking contest goes in three rounds," Ingwer said as she read the rules for them. "First, it's solo cooking with twenty students from each school having to prepare a small dish to serve to the judges as an appetizer and only ten students from each school can make it into the next round. From there, each school has five teams of two students, depending on rankings, working together to make and serve an entrée. Finally, in the end, only six students per school are left and the two teams have to use teamwork, flavor, and creativity to come up with a certain themed dessert."

"I'd say there's a good chance that Ingwer and I can make it to the finals," Dårlig said flatly. "She and I were the best in Wicked Bakery class back in Dragon Hall and in Home Economics right now. And I'm not bragging."

"That's alright. We've got to use everything we got for the events," Audrey said. "I know I can come up with great ideas for cupcakes and all, but I know practically nothing about appetizers and entrées. Maybe might have a better chance, since she does a lot of dumplings."

"I know, they're so good!" Ingwer licked her lips.

"There's still a problem." Izzy raised her hand. "I've been chosen to do the cooking contest and I can't cook at all!"

"You did make a few minor improvements," Ingwer tried to encourage her friend. Just as she said that, one of the ovens exploded a puff of black smoke out of its belly, covering the face and dress of one of the reformees assigned to attend Home Economics.

"My dress _à la victorienne!_ " The girl exclaimed in a high-pitched fancy French accent while some of the other students, most of them being reformees slightly snickering at her.

"OK, scratch what I said," Ingwer told Izzy. "Even in Auradon Prep, you still manage to destroy ovens."

Izzy lowered her head in embarrassment. "Sorry," she muttered. Unfortunately, the now dirty reformee was less understanding than Izzy's friends.

" _You_ did this on purpose!" she pointed accusingly at Izzy. "You knew I was going to sit there and you destroyed this oven to sabotage my dress! _Espèce de sale peste!_ "

"I didn't!" Izzy protested.

" _Ah, oui_? So how do you explain all this disgusting stuff on me?" She waved a hand over the soot, dust, and dirt that covered a good half of her teal and red Victorian puffy dress.

"In Izzy's defense, she's never been the most...What would be a good, Dårlig?" Ingwer said thoughtfully.

"Distinguished?" the son of the Bergen Chef offered.

"Sure. Let's go with a fancy word like 'distinguished'. Anyway, do try to understand that Izzy's misuse of the ovens is not intentional of her. Honestly, the only real hazard she could ever do was cause the Hun fire squad to rush at Dragon Hall after she spilled some chemical in order to avoid her mom's Potions Chemistry class..." Ingwer's voice trailed off when she saw Dårlig and Audrey glaring at her, Izzy slapping her forehead in exasperation, and the French reformee looking unimpressed. "I'm not making any of this better, am I?"

The door finally opened and in came...

" _Monsieur_ Barkin?" the French reformee frowned. All her schoolmates frowned when they saw him sitting at the teacher's desk while carrying a big box labeled 'berries'. "You teach Home Economics here too?"

"You got a problem with that, Bovary?" Mr. Barkin said sternly.

"Nothing." The Bovary girl silently sunk back in her chair, trying to make herself invisible.

"Listen up, people!" Barkin shouted. "After a recent incident involving mice in her kitchen, Mrs. Prudence has been revoked her Home Economics teaching license by the Health Inspector, so I'll be covering this class until the end of the semester!"

"Good, she was a pure snob anyway!" Tara Sam Scam said in relief. "Saying it was a housewives job to cook!"

"I wouldn't be surprised and I would understand if you kids tried to get her fired." Barkin straightened his tie. "Alright, people! A majority of you will be participating in tomorrow's cooking event, so this class will be a good practice! We will be taking the opportunity to work in groups in a well-mannered, amiable way. Are there any questions?"

"Uh, Mr. B?" Cassie Mushu raised her hand and spoke up, making Audrey, Ingwer, and Dårlig realize only just now that Lonnie's guardian-in-training was in the same class as them. "Are you sure that doing teams with the other school in class won't prevent any, you know, cheating?"

"It's learning to live and work together, Mushu, not sharing makeup tips and sweet snacks with your girly pals! You're having a normal Home Economics class while practicing for the event and making new friends at the same time. Should I find any cheating, though, there will be detention!" The door opened and in came a tall boy with most of his upper body being hidden by all the boxes he was carrying. "However, we are allowed to share one hint about the contest, and that is that you will have to serve berries in your dishes."

"Berries?" Ingwer frowned. "What kind of berries?"

"Anything, as long as they will please the stomach of Trollkonge..."

"What?" Dårlig's voice nearly echoed through the walls of the classroom as his fists tightened on the table. "You...you're telling me that I actually have to _serve_ the Troll royalty brat?"

"Uh oh," Izzy said.

"The 'Troll royalty brat' in question has a name, Bergen, and the U.N have agreed to make Princess Gladiola Trollkonge one of the judges for the cooking contest since tomorrow is the first day of spring and the princess can't go back home to celebrate her birthday..."

"Ooh! I love making birthday treats!" Ingwer clapped her hands in excitement.

"Yeah, that cake made of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge that you baked for my birthday back in middle school was my favorite!" Izzy licked her tongue in excitement.

"Well, I won't take in any part of this!" Dårlig grabbed his backpack and stormed out of the classroom. "I'm complaining about it to the headmistress!" He banged the door as he got it.

"What's his problem?" the Bovary girl frowned.

"Long story short, Dårlig's mom has a bad history with King Branch and Queen Poppy and the former used to make her son watch all those reality shows bragging about Gladiola in order to make him hate her as much as the Bergen Chef hates the Trolls," Ingwer explained. "He's also still embarrassed that he actually had to cooperate with the princess he was taught to hate during the battle on the Isle back in January. So imagine, him having to participate in a Pride Games event where she'll be the judge...you can bet that there's a chance she could give him a poor score because of family."

"Ah." The Bovary girl nodded.

"Alright, people! Let's get cooking!"

Students stiffly moved around the room, making it clear that they weren't getting enthusiastic about the idea of working with their opponents in a class related to the first event they were competing in. Since Ingwer and Audrey wanted to keep their counter, Izzy decided to grab her stuff and began to bend down to grab her backpack, but as soon as she got up, she accidently bumped into the tall boy who had come earlier with all the boxes full of berries.

"I'm so sorry!" Izzy stammered. "Here, let me pick these up!" Instantly, she bent down on her knees and started picking up the berries she had accidently dropped, thus helping the boy as he did the same thing as her.

"Thanks, that's so..." He paused on thanking her after his hand and hers accidently touched one another when trying to both pick up a strawberry. The jolt going through their skins made them look at one another. Izzy instantly blushed when she saw that he was a sixteen-year-old boy, maybe a few months older than her, with a tanned athletic body structure. He wore a sky blue tank top and a black strap belt that kept his purple jeans together, brown sandals, and a brown South American straw hat that crowned the curly locks of black hair cascading their way towards his shoulders. His main accessories other than the hat were a blue-and-gold Inca necklace and two medals pinned on his shirt.

He may be blinking at her in curiosity, but right now, Izzy knew instantly that she was feeling butterflies with heart-shaped wings agitating her tummy. Her mind was making the message clear to her: she was finding the reformee boy insanely attractive.

"Uh...I...Well...Hi..." Izzy stammered like an idiot, not knowing that she was blushing obviously through all her purple makeup.

"Wow. You really are cute," he said in his fascinated, South American accent as he helped her get up. "You must be Yzma's daughter, Izzy. Don't be offended or anything, but I didn't think you'd be this amazing."

"Because of my mom being an old dinosaur? I get that a lot." Izzy giggled with the boy, who shared her amusement mutually. "And, you are?"

"Karl. My dad's Kronk." He shook hands with her. "You know, your mom's ex-sidekick."

"Oh yeah," Izzy said, starting to feel uncomfortable in the stomach. First, the son of Emperor Kuzco, a brat that Yzma wouldn't stop complaining about to Izzy in the sense of 'You never appreciate what I do for you! I raised you and just like him, this is how you respect me', was currently in the area as a St Luther student, and now there was Karl Pepikrankenitz, the son of the henchman that Yzma sacked because his naivety and lack of pure evil got up to Yzma's head along with Kronk's spinach puffs. Why did it have to be the sons of those two guys? For all Izzy knew, Narcisisto and Karl probably despised her because of family hatred and she could cross out any hope of Karl asking her out.

"So, I hear that you're going to take part in the cooking contest tomorrow." Karl's comment made Izzy snap out of her mental fantasy begging for a happy ending.

"I am," she groaned in defeat. "But I can't cook at all." She pointed at the oven that ruined both itself and the dress of the Bovary girl, who was still trying desperately to wipe of the dirt on her precious dress rather than break the eggs for the muffins she and her team were making.

"Well, neither is Emily, but like my dad says, you'll never succeed unless you keep practicing and trying," Karl said nicely.

"I try, but everytime I try, I either end up making an oven explode or I ruin a dish even though I keep trying to follow the recipe." Izzy sighed. "It's pathetic. I'm the daughter of the hag who tried to poison an emperor through a great chef's food and I can't even figure out how to avoid combining baking soda and vinegar." She stared at her feet in shame.

Karl looked sympathetically at her until his eyes gleamed as if a light bulb appeared on top of his head. "Well wait a minute! What if I gave you some after school cooking classes?" he suggested.

"You'd do that?" Izzy's eyes beamed like purple stars.

"Why not? I did it a lot with some of my classmates back in St Luther's. Usually my dad does the tutoring since he's the school's part-time chef and Home Economics teacher, but he had to go to a Junior Chipmunk convention for a few months. That's why Barkin's replacing him as teacher while I'm in charge of all the cafeteria food."

"Ooh, that's gotta be a lot of work," Izzy said. "But I'd love to take tutoring classes."

"Great." Karl winked at her. "So I'll see you tonight at eight in the kitchen for our study date."

 _At lunch time, outside_

"Emphasis on 'study date', Izzy!" Ingwer looked up from her pile of notes in order to talk to her friend. "He didn't say 'tutoring', 'teaching session', or even 'professional advice'. He said _study date_."

"I know," Izzy said dreamily as her eyes looked up at the blue sky.

"What gives?" Mal asked as she, Lonnie, and Ruby came to Ingwer and Izzy. Since the weather was really sunny and warm outside, the faculty closed the cafeteria in order to have the students from both schools spend their lunch hour outside. Of course, the mood found back in breakfast was the same right now.

"Izzy's been bit by the love bug." Ingwer continued to scramble in her notes. "Karl Pepikrankenitz offered to help her do better in cooking by a study date..."

"Wow, how cool!" Ruby was about to high-five Izzy until a thought paused her action. "Wait. Isn't he the son of Kronk and your rival for the cooking contest?"

"As well as the dreamiest guy on the universe?" If this were some sort of anime or cartoon, pink hearts and a pink background would have appeared behind Izzy. "Definetly!" The girls giggled at the sight of Izzy as they proceeded to have lunch together.

"Monkey Boy's not with you lately?" Mal's question made Ruby stop eating her sandwich and start looking glum. "Ruby?"

"He's isolating himself more than usual ever since St Luther's came to Auradon Prep, and whenever he is around, he either doesn't talk to me or Havoc's pulling him away." Ruby sighed. "I don't think those Pride Games are doing any good to Martin."

"I forgot. Martin had an entanglement with Ronilda." Lonnie scratched herself in the area just above her left breast. "And he owes ten years of friendship to Havoc because Havoc's dad, Discord, freed Monkey Fist from the Yono contract. How can we forget that?" Lonnie kept scratching and clutching her shirt in the same area.

"Lonnie, is everything alright?" Ingwer looked up from her notes.

"My mark's itching!" Lonnie slightly moved the collar of her shirt, revealing that the skin occupied by her mark was getting red. "And it won't stop!"

"You gotta stop!" Izzy pulled Lonnie's hand away from her mark. "It's normal for a mark of villainy to get some unusual anomalies a few months after you get them, but keep picking on them and they won't stop coming back like periods!"

"So what do I have to do in order to keep myself from picking them?

"Cover the mark with jam and let it sit for a while," Ingwer advised, "but if it starts bleeding a lot, which does happen occasionally, you need to dip yourself in a bath made of ten mammals' milk in order make your skin and your mark of villainy permanently seal."

"And where the heck am I supposed to find ten milk-giving mammals?" Lonnie rolled her eyes. Just when she said that, somebody was approaching the girls, and that somebody was actually a group of four people: Artemis, who was holding hands with Pinkamenus, and Dusk Shimmer, whose right arm seemed to be coiled by the long hair of the same male Troll who had been helping her out at the DJ set last night.

"Lon!" Pinkamenus went to hug Lonnie, who returned the gesture. "The kids in kindergarten were mean!"

"OK, what did you do this time?" Lonnie giggled as she ruffled his hair.

"I didn't do anything! The kids were just mean, calling me a liar when I said you were my big sister!"

"Oh..." Lonnie dropped a sweat as the little pink boy cried in their hug.

"Is he always like this?" Dusk asked as she sat down next to Ingwer.

"As far as I know, Pinkamenus only respects four people ever since his mother died: Fletcher, Lonnie, Fairy Godmother, and me" Artemis sighed. He picked up Pinkamenus and gave him a piggyback ride. "And because of this problem, he doesn't like being in the local kindergarten here in Auradon while I'm here."

"Artie, Artie!" Pinkamenus squealed from his shoulders. "I want to be eating those pastries with you tomorrow! Pretty please!" Pinkamenus gave him cute puppy eyes.

"Pinkamenus, I can't have you sitting on my lap while I'm with the other judges," Artemis sighed. "I already told you that."

"Wait, you're going to be among the judges?" Mal nearly spat her drink out of her mouth and onto Ingwer's face.

"The Pride Games have a requirement for the judges who will be taking part in determining each of the events," Dusk explained. "For each event, there's six judges: two U.N representatives, one monarch, a celebrity, and one student representing each of the schools. We don't usually know the judges except for the students until the event comes. Artemis is representing the Auradon Prep student body as judge and the same applies to Gladiola for my school."

"And since Glady is also the Crown Princess of the Trolls, she's been granted the position of the monarch judge!" the male Troll clapped his hands in excitement as he suddenly shrunk in size to the surprise of a few people and hopped to Dusk's shoulder, where he sat on. "And a good way to make up, too! Usually we do all the partying back home, but since we currently can't because of the Pride Games, the cooking contest is a good way to cheer up Gladiola on her birthday!"

"Wait, I know you!" Lonnie got closer in order to see the red Troll in the casual 90s disco outfit. "You were helping Dusk at the DJ set last night!"

"He's Disco Jam, the son of DJ Suki," Dusk said while she used her index finger to high-five Disco Jam, "and my bonded Troll."

"Bonded Troll?" Ingwer asked as she crunched another piece of paper. "Hang on... Ronilda had Gladiola hanging onto her hair when she snuck on the Isle!"

"You know shrinking to one inch tall or to five feet tall is part of being a Troll, right?" Disco Jam arched an eyebrow. "But after Ronilda and Gladiola first met, they inadvertently revealed an old, forgotten Troll thing of bonding with humans or anyone that was tall and not a Bergen." His hair changed to a neon pink as it wrapped itself around Dusk's index finger. "Basically, a bonded Troll acts are your own personal guide to true happiness and will only wrap his or her hair on you affectionately when you walk together. Glady aside, that's why a lot of Troll teens are at St Luther's: many of them have managed to bond with some of students."

"So Gladiola Trollkonge is Ronilda Stoppable's bonded Troll," Artemis said as he put Pinkamenus back on the ground. "I don't suppose your species does babysitting? Thanks to the lad here, I can't let Pinkamenus go back to the local kindergarten."

"Trolls aren't domestic nurses," Dusk said in a rather defensive tone, surprising Mal and the other girls. "They act as students, happiness counselors, and helping hands to everyone at St Luther's!" She stopped when she realized that she was sounding rather aggressive. "I'm sorry, that was rather unnecessary of me to react as such."

"I'm...going to go see Fairy Godmother to talk about the pink problem," Artemis said as he took Pinkamenus by the hand.

"Great, I'll go with you." Lonnie said. "I definetly need an inspirational walk for tomorrow's cooking contest."

"I don't want Fairy Godmother to send me back to kindergarten!" Pinkamenus complained. He then suddenly changed to a deadpan tone to Lonnie. "Ya know Artemis can't play favorites with you when he's judge?"

"Ya know I'll by you ice cream if you behave?" Lonnie smirked as she poked the nose of the son of Pinkamena Diane Pie, who instantly giggled a 'Yay!' and put himself in an appropriate standing position.

"Bribing kids with treats?" Artemis arched an eyebrow as he walked back inside with Lonnie and Pinkamenus. "You do know that I can't play favorites with you tomorrow, right?"

"Doesn't mean that I'm not your favorite during every non-Pride Games related event, right?" Lonnie shrugged with a smug.

Her boyfriend chuckled, making the others watching them leave. "I couldn't get even more smitten."

"So they _really_ are together?" Disco Jam transformed his sized back to tall, making it a lot more clear that if he were human-sized, he'd be at least 4.11 feet tall if you excluded the 2 feet long, neon-colored hair. A perfect size for somebody qualified for basketball. "I thought Glady was kidding when she talked about the 'guy and girl who fell in love with one another in their dreams'. Well...maybe just how Glady said it made me want to disbelieve."

"Disbelieve all you want DJ, but you're talking about the same guy who literally got his cardio organ ripped out of his body in order to save his crush and that organ of his had enough conscience to protectively brainwash her." Ingwer finally groaned out loud and slammed her head on the table after crumbling another ball of paper. "Ugh! I can't find any good idea for tomorrow!"

"Uh, isn't that my job to be the one without ideas?" Izzy asked. "I mean, you're the daughter of the Candy Witch..."

"And I found out that St Luther's has a wild card that I didn't expect. Willywaffle Wonka, the son of Willy Wonka himself and a natural expert in cooking sweetness. Even my mom herself has named Wonka a worthy human confectioner rival _and she baked gingerbread houses to lure and eat children for a living!_ "

"Oh. Yeah, that is worth something to worry about."

"There's got to be at least _one_ good idea you came up with!" DJ started to look through the failed notes of Ingwer. "Supreme cheese and ham omelet? No, that can't do, especially since Gladiola is a Troll and Trolls need berries..." As he continued to babble with Ingwer and Izzy, Dusk and Mal had their own conversation.

"So he just _let_ Penna rip his mark of villainy out of his body and kill him because she tricked him into believing that he'd be saving Lonnie by doing so?" Dusk asked in shock. "And then _Lonnie_ got herself brainwashed by the relic because his mark's essence had enough sentience?"

"Both that and because of her legacy to Yves," Mal explained. "Back in the ancient days, the brothers Yaveske and Yves worked together to defeat their father when the guy tried to use the Villains Comet to conquer everything, but as soon as they won, they separated. Yaveske went to the West and created a large legacy of villains while Yves went East and served for the benefit of the people while hiding his own descendants, and it so happened that, out of the three teens Voldemort had failed to hunt down unlike Penna did, Lonnie was the one with the most connection to Yves because he was the First Ancestor in Mulan's family. And because of that connection, she was able to get some slight conscience under the relic's corruption, but not enough for her to control the evil that turned her into an insane powerhouse. We got darn lucky when Fiske used the forbidden seven chakra blocking technique to knock her out and remove the relic from her."

"And that's the cue to Voldemort revealing himself as a parasite within his daughter and trying to turn Lonnie into his personal Death Eater Queen until she defeats him and saves everyone and why Penna is now going so often to the hospital." Dusk nodded. "I see what she's going through. My own mom had a hard time getting accepted by others after she reformed from her demonic transformation."

"Demonic transformation?"

" _Never_ take an Element of Harmony from Equestria to the human world and try to use it for power." Dusk shook a negative finger. "Next thing you know, _everyone_ wants a piece of it!"

"I know my mom would if she weren't a gecko!" Mal giggled until she noticed Dusk pondering. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No. It's just that you made me think. If Lonnie _did_ defeat Voldemort and he's in the Limbo as everyone claims there is, then why haven't we heard anything about his soul being there?"

The sky darkened with upcoming rain, making it easier for Mal to ask Dusk without the others hearing: "Are you suggesting that...Voldemort could have survived again?"

 _Later in the evening_

Feige opened the kitchen to find a grumpy Dårlig chopping tomatoes and Izzy Yzzi putting frosting on recently baked cupcakes with Karl Pepikrankenitz from St Luther's.

"There you go! See, it's not that hard to bake !" Karl picked one of the cupcakes and ate it. "Hm! And you made good progress!"

"Thanks, I got a great tutor." Izzy blushed in front of him.

"Hey. What are you making?" Feige walked towards them and admired the orange frosted cupcakes.

"Hazelnut and acorn cupcakes with mandarin flavored frosting!" Izzy gave one to Feige, who instantly liked the cupcake she ate. "Karl has been giving me some tutoring for cooking."

"I'm sure you'll be great, tomorrow," the son of Kronk told her. A sudden smell of burned vegetables and a frustrated Dårlig muttering as he cooked got their attention.

"Uh oh! Burned food coming from a frustrated him can only mean one thing," Izzy grimaced. "He didn't manage to get dismissed from the cooking contest."

"Dårlig!" Feige put her hands on her hips. "I can't believe you!"

"What? Like it's my fault I have to serve food for _her Majesty_?" He made a mocking pout as he said the last two words and continued to destroy his talent.

"Gladiola is going to be one of the judges tomorrow because her parents wanted her to have a great cake for her birthday since she and the other Troll teens can't go back to Bergen Town for the celebration," Karl said to Feige, "and if I understand you three's family history correctly, Dårlig doesn't like the idea about cooking for the daughter of his mom's foes."

"Good thing I take yoga." Feige pinched her nose. "Izzy, make sure that you and Karl don't watch this." Izzy nodded and used her left hand to cover Karl's eyes while her spare one covered her own. Feige walked over to Dårlig and tapped on his shoulder playfully. "Bergy Wuggy?"

"Feige, I'm not in the moo...mmh." The Bergen teenager was unable to finish the word 'mood' because he was now moaning from the passionate kiss his girlfriend was giving him, making him briefly forget about his frustration and focus on the lustful hunger that overwhelmed his soul as his arms began to wrap around her waist.

Normally, Trolls didn't enamor with Bergens due to species difference and the awkward history between them even after they reconciled, so when the Bergen Chef and Creek, who were forced to live together on the Isle of The Lost and constantly bickered like an old married couple despite not being so, discovered that Chef's son Dårlig and Creek's daughter Feige, two childhood friends who grew up to fall in love with one another, they instantly disapproved. Chef saw Trolls as happiness substance to eat while Creek saw Bergens as complete monsters, but since Dårlig and Feige wanted one another so badly, they fled from their homes and went to be Penna De Mort's loyal henchmen, the only place where they could work for a boss who'd ignore their romance and leave them be because she was so repulsed by the mere notion of love...

" _What in the world_?"

Lonnie's sudden appearance in the kitchen made Izzy uncover Karl's eyes and her own and the Troll girl from kissing her Bergen boyfriend right when she was beginning to feel his hands slip underneath her shirt and skirt and close to the curved areas of certain areas.

"Did I stumble upon the dating club?" Lonnie asked. Her hand was holding a paper towel padding her left breast and the other four students noticed the fabric staining in red just as Lonnie began to lose balance.

"Lonnie!" Izzy and Karl grabbed Lonnie before she could fall and helped her sit up on the counter. The paper towel fell out of her hands and revealed that her mark was bleeding. "Oh, this is bad..."

"I might have something to slow down the bleeding." Dårlig rushed to the fridge and took out a jar of strawberry jam. He dipped two fingers in the jar and began to gently spread the jam on Lonnie's mark, making the latter wince as he did so.

"First the itching and now the bleeding," Izzy mumbled anxiously. "Usually you don't get two reactions in one day. Lonnie, when did the bleeding start?"

"A few minutes ago, right when I woke up from a nightmare." Lonnie groaned as Dårlig continued to put more jam on her bleeding mark and Karl went to make her tea. "I accidently woke up half of the girls' dorms."

"You want to talk about it?" Feige patted her on the shoulder.

"Uh!" Lonnie groaned in frustration. "I defeated him and he's still haunting me with what happened on the Isle! **Specifically** when I nearly got transformed twice!"

"That's a lot of transforming." Karl gave her a cup full of herbal tea and looked at the three VKs, demanding a clearer explanation.

"Our boss Penna tried to take over the world using the combined powers of the malevolent essences we VKs wield within our marks of villainy, those descended from Yaveske in particular," Feige explained. "The only problem was that she didn't realize her father Voldemort had tricked her to do his work like a puppet and used her to gain such power in order to physically and mentally reincarnate in Penna so that he could be immortal forever."

"At one point during the battle before truths were discovered, Lonnie got a bit corrupted by the relic created out of all the evil essences, but since she was a descendant of Yaveske's brother Yves and her boyfriend Artemis' mark of villainy had enough sentience to try protecting her, she ended up turning into a raging she-demon that could easily defeat us with a snitch with all the absorbed power!" Dårlig snapped his fingers as he finished putting jam on the mark and began to put a bandage on top of it. "And when Voldemort saw how much evil potential Lonnie had out of the three descendants of Yves, he had her strapped on a chair and tried to use ancient spells and potions on her to turn Lonnie into his Death Eater Queen and give him a batch of heirs that he'd just end up possessing like he did with Penna."

"A creepy circle of life," Karl said rather freaked out. "He makes Yzma sound like a debutant!"

"No arguments there!" Izzy winked at him.

"Strapped on a throne, veins twisted by him so that I could undress in front of him and put on that revolting dress, and _that_ ghastly makeup..." Lonnie shivered as he curled into a ball. "He was keeping me strapped in my nightmare, only the throne was much larger and he was using the laces of that ghastly dress' corset to tighten it until I couldn't breathe and I ended up choking blood as black as those Nahash cosmetics. That's when I woke up screaming and realizing my mark was bleeding."

"Did you tell the Headmistress about your nightmare?" Karl asked.

"I didn't. You guys are the only ones I told you about. If I started going on about having nightmares related to Voldemort, I'd be labeled as senile and who knows how that could affect the Pride Games?"

"I'm afraid Lonnie's right." Dårlig washed his hands and put the jam back in the fridge. "Despite our reformation and the government ensuring we do not mess things up, there are still many people out there who still don't fully trust Penna and her minions, including Feige and I. Even Minuit and Jessie are going through serious rehabilitation activities and psychiatrist meetings mainly because they were the only two of the main henchmen to have been raised by Penna. Combine the 'Penna Problem' and the villain-reformee conflict, things are pretty rough for the Pride Games and bringing in nightmares about a villain everyone hopes to be finally defeated _will not_ help us at all."

"So what do we do?" Karl asked.

" _We?_ " The others asked in unison.

"Yes, 'we'. 'We' as in you guys and me. You guys will need help, and since we can't tell anyone about the nightmares, the least help I can get is the one coming from me. Helping people is, you know, the least I can do."

"Start finding milk from a cow and you're in," Dårlig said.

 _Twenty minutes later, in the house of Artemis Nightmare_

"I still can't believe the daughter of the Winter Soldier has a cow!" Radiance Nightmare said as she helped Fletcher Flim, Dårlig, Feige, Izzy, and Karl pour ten bottles of milk coming from ten different mammals into the floor tub in Artemis' bathing chamber, which was a dark blue room the size of a spa room with the starry ceiling held up by modern tile pillars and the windows and shower decorated with moon-themed curtains. A magnolia tree with midnight blue petals was growing indoors and letting its fragrant petals fall into the tub as it got filled with creamy milk.

"Johanna likes to describe herself as an 'ecological' antihero rather than an action-first antihero." Karl put aside the now empty tenth bottle of milk. "Okay, we got the milk of a cow, a dolphin, a tiger, a dog, a platypus, a red panda, a monkey, a wolf, a wolverine, and a mouse. Need anything else?"

"Yes. Everyone get out!" Artemis pointed his finger at the door, shooing everyone out of the bathing chamber and his own house, leaving only Lonnie and him. "Alright, Lonnie. The bath's ready."

Respecting her boyfriend's orders, Lonnie took off her robe and carefully dipped her toes in the milky bath before putting her full body in it. " _So good_ ," she moaned once the warm milk hit her skin, granting her the possibility of feeling the skin surrounding her mark healing. "The pain's going away."

"Good, I was worried when Izzy said you were bleeding." Artemis snapped his fingers and cleaned up Lonnie's favorite pink PJs in one second flat with his magic. "There! These should be clean enough for you to wear again tonight, but wash them as soon as you can in the morning." He turned his head to look back at Lonnie and had to cover his eyes out of respect when he saw her slender form getting out of the tub and drying herself with a towel once she was certain her mark was fully healed.

"Could I stay with you just for the evening?" Lonnie asked as she took her PJs and began to put them back on. "I'm afraid of accidently waking the others up."

"I would, Lonnie, but..." Artemis bit his lips as his eyes caught a quick glimpse of her bare back and chest's side as she put her top on. "I promised your father that my hands wouldn't do anything suspicious until you're out of college."

Lonnie groaned in frustration. "Please tell me he didn't do one of those 'I don't want you to deflower my daughter until she's old enough to be married' to you!"

"And your great-grandmother asked me how many kids we'd be expecting." Artemis got a memory of when he went to meet Lonnie's family for the first time and the old lady was reacting to her great-granddaughter's relationship with the alicorn prince just like she had with Mulan and Shang: were the teens going to stay forever? When would the wedding be? And how many great-great-grandkids would she be getting from the couple. "I mean, not that I don't envision having such a future together..." He covered his mouth when he realized what he had just blurted.

"Aw! You really want to have such a future with me?" Lonnie said as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders, making him blush even further as he stared into Lonnie's hazel eyes.

"Well, I..." He _did_ want to have such a future with Lonnie and had his own desired visions of it: walking down the aisle and exchanging vows under the sound of church bells and seeing her in a white dress worthy of a princess, raising children together, living a peaceful life where nothing could separate them...How many times did he wish of such things from watching Memorbs with such things ever since he encountered her in the Dreamworld?

"Is such a future what you want from me?" he asked her quietly. "After what I put you through since we first met?"

"Everyone does dumb things for those they love." She shrugged as her hand caressed his cheek and nearly touched the tip of his helmet. "And you've committed _a lot_ of dumb things."

"Probably because I'm crazy for you." He tilted his head a bit, making their breaths separate from one another by a mere inch. Finally, their lips collided and they kissed deeply. Artemis put his hands on Lonnie's and pulled her close to him as he teleported them out of the bathing chamber and into his own bedchamber right when Lonnie bit his lower lip and made the two of them fall on the bed with her back kissing the sheets first.

"As I told your father, I won't do anything suspicious with my hands, but I won't stop enjoying myself," he warned in between kisses.

"As...you...wish...Pony Boy." Lonnie's words turned into delighted moans when Artemis began to kiss her neck and explore her curved areas at the same time, leaving the two lovebirds to one heck of a night.


	5. Pride Games Cooking Contest

Chapter 5: Pride Games Cooking Contest

Fireworks were exploding as people cheered in the local cooking stadium by around 3pm. The bleachers were mixed with students from both schools and citizens from all over Auradon who had come to witness the first event of the Pride Games that would change history forever. Meanwhile, King Ben sat with Mal, his parents and grandfather, and the Fairy Godmother on the highest platform in the stadium in order to have a good view.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Charles shouted on his microphone as he and Leidi stood in the center of the arena full of forty cooking areas and one table for the judges. "Welcome to the first event of the Pride Games!"

"Are you ready for some heated action?" Leidi held out her ear until the loud clamoring nearly made her deaf. "Alright, folks! Get ready for the cooking contest opposing the Knights of Auradon Prep to the Loud Roadrunners of St Luther Rose Academy!" The screens located throughout the arena blared with the logos of the two schools.

"And now, let's meet the judges! Here they come!" Everyone watched as one by one, the six judges made their way into the field. "So usually we're supposed to have two U.N representatives, one monarch, one celebrity, and two students in the judge podium, but since one of the student judges is also filling out the pose of monarch, we made the exception of getting another celebrity judge."

"And presenting in order: representatives Nicholas Fury and Lord Goliath!" People cheered to the African-American eye-patched colonel and the gargoyle lord as they waved to the public and made their way to the judge table. "Celebrity chef and food critique, Monsieur Remy, and pop sensation Melody!" Cheers and clapping at the sight of the humanoid rat chef from Paris and the teenage crowd went wild as Melody blew kisses at her adoring fans. "And the student judges. From Auradon Prep and originally from the Isle of The Lost, the son of Nightmare Moon, Artemis Nightmare!"

The Auradon Prep shouted with cheers as the alicorn prince made his way into the stadium and stood next to the other four judges.

"And from St Luther Rose Academy, presenting the guardian of happiness, the Crown Princess of the Trolls, the daughter of King Branch and Poppy..." Leidi's words were followed by a twister of rainbow glitter that sent an enormous current of breeze throughout the stadium until it cleared up and revealed standing under all that shower of sparkle and glitter... "Gladiola Trollkonge!"

"Way to show off," Mal noted as many cheers from St Luther were heard, especially from the Trolls in the crowd, as Gladiola joined the judges. Finally, the forty students competing against one another came out in two lines, each student wearing an apron with their school colors and bearing a vicious glare at their opponents. They formed an aligned position as Charles and Leidi stood on a separate podium and continued to speak through their microphones.

"Contestants, for the first hour, you must each make a dish that you will serve as an appetizer to each of the six judges!" Charles waved a hand at the judges. "Your food will be judged by presentation, taste, and cooking timing and if you are among the overall twenty participants moving on to the next round, your names will appear in score order on the main screen." He pointed at the stadium's main screen, which represented in school order all the students participating. The images were then replaced by a 60:00. "And the round starts..."

A shrill whistling sound came as Leidi blew a purple titanium whistle that she kept hanging around her neck, making Charles cover his ears. Once they heard the sound, the competing students made a run for their cooking areas and began to cook under the intensive crowd expecting each of them to win and come back out with a medal or a trophy. Each cooking area was busy with a participant chopping, slicing, or baking.

"15 minutes are quickly passing," Leidi said while she joined the judges at the table, "and it seems like each school is breaking their neck to gain the upper hand. Let's ask for the judges' opinions." She aimed her microphone first to Monsieur Remy. "You're the expert chef in the table. What can you tell us about the expectations of a professional like you when it comes to challenges like this?"

Audrey was chopping the vegetables she needed for her homemade hummus as fast as she cooked, Dårlig and Ingwer were both using their best talents to the raging point, Ronilda managed to slice her ingredients with perfect shape and timing with just a few ninja-like knife slashes, Grinchelda was already putting a few spoonful of batter on baking sheets...The contestants were really heating up.

"Go Auradon Prep!" Jay shouted from the bleachers.

Cassie breathed fire into her stove in order to perfectly heat up the soup she was making.

"A sense of taste and refinement," Monsieur Remy told Leidi, "are specific key factors to fine cuisine. You must be able to taste and smell each of the ingredients once the food goes into your teeth.  
"I see." Leidi nodded.

"30 more minutes on the clock!" Charles warned, making the contestants panic even more.

"Say, Gladiola, what's that bottle of berry juice for?" Leidi pointed at the berry juice bottle that Gladiola Trollkonge had pulled out of her hair and was now pouring into her drinking glass.

"Oh, Trolls need to have their usual portion of berries daily," Gladiola explained. "That's just in case none of the contestants don't cook anything with at least one tablespoon of berry." From the screens, Dårlig's face was visibly keeping as much composure as he could as he pulled out the plates he was planning on using to serve the judges.

"Art, old chap..." Leidi began.

"Please don't call me Art," Artemis said flatly. His dry tone made Leidi flinch.

"Right. Say, what's it like for you to know that your girlfriend is one of the contestants?"

Lonnie blew her hands furiously as she placed the hot dumplings on the plates while Charles announced that 15 minutes were left.

"I'm not playing favorites," Artemis said stiffly.

"You shouldn't anyway," Nick Fury said.

"If I was such a favoring person, do you think they would have let me be a judge?"

"He's got a point," Melody said.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! STOP EVERYTHING!" Charles shouted through the microphone. All the contestants stopped what they were doing and unleashed deep breaths. Once they made sure their aprons were dusted, they all lined up based on who finished their dish first. Among the Auradon Prep contestants, Ingwer Hexe and Dårlig Bergen were first in line while St Luther's had Karl Pepikrankenitz and Ronilda Stoppable.

"Since when does _she_ cook?" Martin snorted from the bleachers to himself.

"Marvelous canapés!" Monsieur Remy exclaimed as he tasted Ingwer's handiwork. "I can taste the clashing between the cheese and herbal spices so harmoniously!" Ingwer jumped in giddiness.

"Yum! Definetly the kind of escargot toast I'd want to eat on a trip to Paris!" Melody tried out Dårlig's own work, making the Bergen grin smugly.

"Seven layers of oatmeal and raisins? Exactly what you need for a healthy breakfast!" Nick Fury gave a thumbs up at Ronilda.

"No comment! These spinach puffs are beyond extraordinary!" Artemis congratulated Karl.

"Too much hummus!" Gladiola rejected Audrey's dish, much to the latter's disappointment.

Artemis' misty hair exploded into a blue flame that nearly burned up much of the judges' table after tasting Cassie's spicy noodle soup. "Too spicy! Too spicy!"

"Hum." Melody paused to think for a moment as she tasted Izzy's cucumber sandwiches. " _Fairly_ decent."

"Wow. These judges aren't kidding at all!" Mal said as they watched the judges continue to critique the competitors' works one by one.

"Exactly," Belle said. "For every event involving three rounds starting with forty students like the cooking contest, the judges are carefully chosen in order to find the most talented twenty students during the first round so that when it comes to the second round, they'll be able to evaluate those students' skills in teamwork and participation, which is how they determine who will be making the two five-men teams in the finals." Charles came back to the judges' table with six pieces of blank paper and six pens that he handed out to the judges, who instantly began to write on them. Once they were done, they let Leidi do a quick shot of their papers with her phone and tapped a few things on her screen.

"What's Leidi doing?" Mal asked Ben.

"The judges are writing down the names of the twenty students they wish to see moving on to round two," Ben explained. "With Leidi's computer and analysis skills, she will be able to count the number of votes evenly."

"I see." Mal didn't dare to add in that Leidi Du Wifi, out of her de-akumatized mother's belief that 'nothing escapes truths', had done several hacking violations that she used for her own personal gains from breaking personal limits for her gossip news to cheating for a test.

All eyes were on the main screen as they revealed the names and positions of the students moving on.

 **Auradon Prep:** Dårlig Bergen, Ingwer Hexe, Augusta Gloop, Audrey, Finius Macduff, Jack Rocket, Izzy Yzzi, Florence Poison Isley, Aaricia Foster, and Amelia Hall.

 **St Luther Rose Academy:** Karl Pepikrankenitz, Willywaffle Wonka, Ronilda Stoppable, Grinchelda May Whovier, Hu Xiongmao, Ebony Ombre, Shadow Junior Ombre, Grey Griffon, Cassie Mushu, and Pufflette Muttonfudge.

"And we got our lucky participants!" Charles announced, prompting everyone in the audience to clap and cheer very loudly. The winners jumped and waved in excitement while the losers groaned and left.

"You made it in eighth!" Karl congratulated Izzy with a high-five.

"Yay! Oh wait..." Izzy looked at Florence Poison Isley from the distance. "That means I have to survive the second round with _her_."

"You're not mad at me, right?" Artemis gave a small puppy pout at Lonnie as she prepared to leave the stadium to go sit by the bleachers.

"There'll always be next time." She playfully pet him on the cheek. The alicorn prince blushed. "Dinner at eight at the usual time?" He asked.

"Definetly."

"Alright, now it's time for round two, folks!" Everyone silenced down as Charles got their attention. "Now, the second round will be challenging. The food the contestants will serve the judges will be like the entrée to the appetizer they served in round one. But caution! This time, they will mostly be judged on teamwork over taste."

"Based on the order of scores per school, they'll have to work in pairs of two to cook up something tasty and the judges will be taking a close attention to their work," Leidi joined in. "They will then decide who are the five students from each school forming the final two teams in the last round."

"Just to clear things up, here are the teams. Dårlig and Ingwer, Augusta and Audrey, Finius and Jack, Izzy and Florence, and Aaricia and Amelia will be the teams for Auradon Prep. Karl and Willywaffle, Ronilda and Grinchelda, Hu and Ebony, Shadow Junior and Grey Griffon, Cassie and Pufflette will be those for St Luther's. Only teamwork will give you the opportunity to go to the next round. And the hour for cooking starts..."

"NOW!"

The teams instantly went to their positions and began to discuss about what to serve.

"So we both served something bready during the first round," Dårlig told Ingwer as he showed her a sketch he was drawing right now on a piece of paper. "Usually I'd serve some kind of hot dish with vegetables as an entrée. What would you do?"

"Serve it with meat!" Ingwer snapped her fingers.

"Let's get cooking!"

"Seems like the first team for our school is going off to a good start, eh Charles?" Leidi winked at Charles, who grimaced at her while Karl and Willywaffle started to grind their meat together, Ronilda and Grinchelda were already getting into the frying of their own dish, and Cassie was already heating up Pufflette's batter with her breath.

"We got forty minutes on the clock and it seems like _some_ teams aren't cooperating!" Charles pointed out. He was quite right, for each school was having students starting to bicker with one another. Finius and Jack were disagreeing on the temperature they should be using to heat up their fish, Izzy and Florence were more focused on a cat-fight than cooking, Audrey couldn't keep Augusta Gloop from eating their own dish, Amelia was whining to Aaricia about adding more sugar, and Hu was shouting at Ebony to not stir the noodles so fast with Grey shouting a similar thing to Ebony's brother about the lox.

"Even inner conflicts exist within each school." Artemis shook his head in exasperation. 20 minutes were now left on the clock and some teams were already taking out their dishes. "I'm amazed on how Dårlig and Ingwer manage to cooperate so well. They usually are so competitive against one another."

"It does show that they know when they have to put differences aside for the good of all," Goliath said. "And that is essential in teamwork."

10 minutes.

"As an expert in good tastes, I can smell from where I'm sitting the different aromas coming from each team," Monsieur Remy said, "and if good smell comes from the food, it means that there is great teamwork."

A burning smell was coming from the cooking area of Grey and Shadow Junior. Someone instantly called the firemen to put out the burning stove.

"Or not," Melody said.

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! STOP EVERYTHING!"

Once again, Charles' words made the contestants stop their cooking and bring their dishes one by one to the judges.

"Grilled steak with sautéed ratatouille!" Ingwer and Dårlig presented their work to the judges, who almost had to keep Monsieur Remy from eating the ratatouille.

"It's perfect! It's perfect!" He kept saying in excitement.

"We know!" the others exclaimed.

"A traditional Who roast beast with a serving of mini nacos!" Grinchelda and Ronilda presented.

"Five star-squash soup...half-eaten." Audrey glared at Augusta as she continued to stuff herself with the soup.

"Traditional salmon lox." Grey Griffon handed the dish to the judges before going to hunt down Shadow Junior.

"Salad," Florence and Izzy said stiffly.

"My family's noodle soup," Hu said.

"Rocket Congee," Jack said.

"Cranberry and turkey potpie," Pufflette said proudly as Cassie served the dish.

After tasting and some talking, the judges were once again writing down their votes on a piece of paper and handing them to Leidi for analysis.

"Announcing...the members of the two teams moving on to round three!" Leidi pointed at the main screen while the drums beat loudly and everyone was crossing their fingers.

 **Auradon Prep** : Dårlig Bergen, Ingwer Hexe, Audrey, Jack Rocket, and Aaricia Foster.

"We made it!" Ingwer, Audrey, and Aaricia shared friendly hug while Dårlig and Jack merely shook hands.

 **St Luther Rose Academy:** Karl Pepikrankenitz, Ronilda Stoppable, Willywaffle Wonka, Grinchelda May Whovier, and Cassie Mushu.

"But it looks like we got some serious competition!" Jack mentioned to the others.

"You're right, but we're gonna beat them!" Audrey said.

"Not if we beat you first, Princess!" Ronilda shouted from the other team.

"Auradon Prep Knights! St Luther Loud Roadrunners! You've made it this far! You have gone all the way to make it to the final round of the Pride Games cooking contest: the dessert round!" Charles declared.

Everyone cheered.

"And the winner will have the honor to serve and bake the best ever, most delicious, berry-hinted birthday cake for one of the judges. Her birthday just happens to be today on the first day of spring! I gave you the birthday girl, folks! Princess Gladiola Trollkonge!"

The Troll princess got up from her seat and waved at the audience, who shouted cheers for the beloved girl, especially the Troll teens.

"Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la!" they chanted.

"Wow, I've never even seen Audrey get respect like this!" Mal said in disbelief.

"Gladiola's the princess of the Trolls," Beast explained. "Her people are known for bringing true happiness to everyone they meet, and as the daughter of Queen Poppy the Happiest and Sweetest, she's supposed to bring everyone joy."

"Thank you all!" Gladiola spoke up with gratitude. "It's a sincere honor to participate in the judging of a Pride Games event! And I'm not saying this because I'm eighteen today, but because I share like many of you out there that we all have happiness within us and that we had best use it together! And I just love to see it during games, so I which you all a good competition!" The cheers got louder as she sat back on her chair.

"And the hour to bake starts... NOW!" Leidi shouted.

"Let's do this!" Ingwer and the others from Team Auradon Prep gathered in the big cooking area they were now working in.

"So what's the plan?" Audrey asked. "It's gotta be a birthday cake with berries, that's for sure."

"Don't worry, when it comes to baking birthday cakes, I like to brag myself as an expert." Ingwer pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and put it on the table. "And I finally got the solution after ten hours of brainstorming."

Team St Luther was already getting a move on. "Grinch! Will! Get started on the decoration preparations!" Ronilda was barking orders. "Karl, help me out with the batter! Cassie, get your dragon claws on sharpening duty!"

"Right, Chef!" they all said.

"I am _not_ losing to a bunch of reformees!" Jack Rocket snarled.

"Let's do this then!" Ingwer clapped her hands, leading the others to action. "Use everything you got!"

"Ten minutes have just passed and everyone's getting baking severely!" Charles observed from his microphone.

Cassie pulled out her dragon claws and used them to sharpen knives...until it turned out that she was using the knifes to sharpen her own claws and slice through the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries in perfect swift motions. Dårlig chopped evenly through the vanilla beans and strawberries as Ingwer used her magic to perfectly stir the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together. "Jack! Get the freshest ingredients!" she ordered.

"Come on out, Slurpuff!" Jack tossed a red-and-white ball out of his pocket and out came a strange, pink and white walking meringue creature. "Use your scent to help us out!" The creature said something in a slurp tone and proceeded to sniff through the cabinets and compartments until it brought two bottles of milk and a dozen eggs to its master.

"It seems like Jack Rocket has summoned one of his Pokemon to help him out," Leidi said amusingly. "Should have seen that coming."

"And it's a good choice as well," Gladiola pointed out. "A Slurpuff has a unique sense of smell, so Jack Rocket must have chosen to use it in order to pick the freshest ingredients for the cake."

"How do you know that?" Melody asked curiously.

"Trolls just _love_ Fairy-type Pokemon."

"Thanks for the help, Slurpuff," Jack thanked his Pokemon before returning it back to its ball. "Take a good rest."

Each team was getting done with the batter as forty minutes were left on the clock. Grinchelda and Willywaffle were using odd machinery to melt sugar and dexterously apply chocolate into hand-sized decorations, leaving the Auradon Prep team suspicious and more determined. Aaricia and Audrey then helped Ingwer and Dårlig carefully pour the cake batter into the molds and ensure that nothing spilled.

"It's got to bake for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. Let's get to..." A burning sound made Ingwer stop her sentence and drop her shoulders when she saw Grinchelda removing a Grinch-smile painted wielding mask and grin a smug with Willywaffle as they revealed one of their masterpieces: a sugary colored statue of Gladiola Trollkonge made entirely of chocolate. Meanwhile, Cassie was breathing fire on her own team's molds, making the cake batter rise in less than a minute.

"Ooh, it looks like Team St Luther has advanced Team Auradon Prep at baking!" Charles said tauntingly.

"I...am... _NOT_...losing!" Ingwer nearly snapped.

"Then let's get on with it!" Aaricia said.

Minutes passed and each team was now on the verge of decorating their cakes. Once Dårlig and Ingwer had applied the creamy frosting on the cake, Audrey and Aaricia immediately began to add in the berry and sugary flower decorations.

"Jack! Sparkle it up!" Dårlig ordered.

"Get out and use Psybeam and Attract together!" Jack threw out two balls similar to the previous one, unleashing Slurpuff once again and some sort of flying small blue squid. Slurpuff shot a ray of floating pink hearts while the squid Pokemon shot a multicolored ring blast at the hearts, causing a shower of blue and pink glitter to fall on the cake and make it appear like it was made of shining diamonds. "Tada!"

"Amazing! Jack's Slurpuff and Inkay have worked together to make Team Auradon Prep's cake quite catching!" Charles exclaimed as the crowd awed at the beautiful scene. "Can St Luther beat such a show?"

"Oh, _we can_!" Ronilda snapped her fingers. "You got your canon, Grinchelda?"

"Adjusted and ready to roll!" Grinchelda pushed in a human sized mini canon fit enough to rival those in tennis court, only it was fashioned in the Who Christmas style and was connected to a large container labeled 'SUGAR! BACK OFF!' "I got the baby well-prepared!"

"At my signal, you and Willywaffle start firing and Karl and Cassie will spin the cake!"

"Spin the cake?" Audrey frowned. "I don't like the..."

"Stoppable's got her own Pokemon!" Jack exclaimed as he pointed the daughter of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable pulling out two balls just like Jack's.

"COME ON OUT!" Ronilda tossed the balls into the air, unleashing two creatures, a humanoid blue ninja frog and a yellow fox with spiked fur. The two creatures instantly landed on the stadium in perfect martial art poses.

"A Greninja and a Jolteon!" Ben gasped.

"How come Ronilda has these two Pokemon?" Mal asked.

"Jolteon, use Pin Missile! Greninja, use Water Shuriken!" Stoppable's Pokemon instantly obeyed and both shot their attacks into the air with Jolteon shooting pin missiles made of electric bolts and Greninja slicing them with his Water Shuriken move, creating an explosion of gold and blue sparkles that showered all the stadium.

"Now!"

Karl and Cassie spun the cake and Willywaffle and Grinchelda fired at it, revealing that the canon contained sugary decorations that instantly glued to the cake's now glittery frosting. Gasps were heard from all over the audience as the cake spun like a glowing disco-ball.

"Use Thunderbolt and Night Slash!"

Greninja grabbed Jolteon and tossed it into the air, giving the latter the opportunity to create a large ball of electricity that Greninja cut through with his Night Slash. A large purple light blinded the entire stadium for a minute until it cleared up, revealing the cake to be a glittery depiction of Gladiola standing on a mountain of gladiolas and poppies with colorful Trolls cheering her from the cake's base.

"And finished!" Ronilda and the other members of her team, including her Pokemon, bowed to the public right when the timer blew off.

"We...are...so...busted," Aaricia muttered while the Pokemon from each team went back to their owners' balls. The cakes were now being carried to the judges' table under the eyes of hundreds of anxious individuals.

"Ooh, two birthday cakes!" Gladiola jumped and clapped giddily as she faced the large cakes standing before her. "This is gonna be so hard!"

"She's bound to favor the ones from the reformees, that's for sure," Dårlig muttered quietly.

"Such flavors," Nick Fury said as he and the other judges each tried a slice from both cakes. "You can just taste the richness in each batter..."

"Quite the presentations," Artemis nodded. "The clash between the traditional expectations of pastry confectioning and the unleashing of true raw talent is quite evident here.

"I know talent and competition, and what I saw during the last hour was a heated rivalry of two factions trying to beat one another," Melody said.

"The ingredients are clashing with one another." Monsieur Remy fidgeted his thumbs once he was done tasting. It's like a competition of which has to stand out the most.

"Presentation, timing, teamwork, flavor, and skills," Goliath pondered. "This will be rather tricky. We've seen all of this from the contestants."

"I know! They were so good!" Gladiola sucked her thumb in order to catch some of the cake frosting stuck on it.

Leidi gave each of them a paper and pen to write with. "The judges will each write down the name of the school they thought deserved to win. Whichever school gets the most votes wins!" Leidi said.

Finally, the judges brought up their choices one by one.

"St Luther Rose," Nick Fury said.

Cheers were heard from the St Luther Rose Academy students watching from the bleachers and the team members were high-fiving one another.

"Auradon Prep," Monsieur Remy declared.

"If we can get at least three votes total, we'll win!" Audrey told her team members.

"Auradon Prep," Goliath said. The crowd was going wild: Auradon Prep was leading 2 to 1.

"St Luther Rose," answered Artemis, stunning most of the crowd that he voted for the school that wasn't his, thus making the score a tie.

"What's up with him?" Jack arched an eyebrow.

"St Luther Rose!" Melody declared.

3 to 2 and St Luther was now on the lead, thus discouraging the Auradon Prep team.

"Well, we might as well say sayonara to winning." Dårlig grabbed his chef cap and began to squeeze it. "Even if we offered a million dollars, there's no way we'd win with Gladiola being the last judge..."

"AURADON PREP!" Gladiola exclaimed loud and clear, making the crowd roar.

" **UH**?" Dårlig dropped his jaw.

"Wow, Dårlig. You didn't even have to offer a million dollars!" Ingwer tapped him on the shoulder. "We won with a tie!"

"But how is that possible? I...I could have sworn that Gladiola wouldn't vote for us because of her family history with mine..."

"Emphasis on _history_ , Dar!" Gladiola spoke from the microphone she snatched from Leidi's clutches. "Stay stuck in annoying history for all you want, but I'm sticking with the present where I ate an awesome cake!" People chuckled and cheered.

Two uniformed men came in carrying a large trophy golden trophy with laurel designed handles and a cake ornament on top and brought it to the judges' table. Artemis got up and aimed his crescent scepter at the trophy, making it glow with night blue lights followed by a rainbow blast coming from Gladiola's Torch of Happiness.

" _Equal winning is so rare, let's make this trophy worth to share!_ " she chanted. Then, to the eyes of the amazed audience, the trophy split in half, leaving two first-place trophies of the same size, shape, and weight. She and Artemis each took one and handed them to the winners.

"Our congratulations," Artemis said as he gave the trophy to Ronilda, whose eyes seemed to gleam for the reward's glow while her teammates shared a victorious hug with her.

"I...I'm still stunned that you actually voted for Auradon Prep," Dårlig confessed as Gladiola gave him the other trophy.

"You worry too much." Gladiola grinned before holding out her hand, expecting a handshake. There seemed to be an awkward moment right there, but it soon evaporated when, to everyone's surprise, the screens showed Dårlig Bergen and Gladiola Trollkonge, two descendants from a villain feuding with a hero and antihero, were shaking their hands with mutual respect.

"Let's bring it up for the winners of the first event of the Pride Games!" Charles said.

"The two schools who managed to win with a tie due to their equal results of talent, teamwork, and passion: Auradon Prep and St Luther Rose Academy!" Leidi. The crowd went wild in the stadium as fireworks were unleashed and boomed into the night sky.


	6. Mobs and Royal Decrees

Chapter 6: Mobs and Royal Decrees

"A tie is unacceptable!" Audrey complained. Saturday was finally in and the two schools were hoping to catch some air before they announced the next event, which shouldn't take place before Monday, but while it meant that everyone could relax outside of homework, it also meant that the personal feuding problems would still continue.

Meanwhile, Audrey and the others were busy installing the trophy from the cooking contest into the Hall of Trophies, the area where Auradon Prep put on display every single one of its won rewards during school competitions. The Hall of Trophies had half a wall full with nothing but golden trophies, medals, and victory photos of every single Pride Games they took part in.

"Because the school has a reputation to hold and winning second place or even a tie is not an option?" Martin suggested. He had come with Ruby to visit the Hall of Trophies as part of their usual romantic walks around campus during weekends but none of them expected to run into Sleeping Beauty's daughter complaining about being first place and tied at the same time.

"Precisely!" Audrey nodded. "I mean, look at all the winnings Auradon Prep had in the past. Do you see anything in particular that isn't gold?"

Ruby bent forward and watched her reflection on one of the relay race trophies. She grinned to herself. "Myself being quite healthy, thus proving that Alfred's cooking is the best butler-made?"

"Hey! Don't forget Bates!" Martin said defensively.

"Sorry. _Second_ best butler-made," Ruby corrected herself. Her boyfriend grinned.

"Good save," Evie commented.

"All I'm saying is that we _need_ to beat St Luther!" Audrey said. "Our school has the rep of winning every event as well as taking part in every Pride Games! If we start becoming second best, the amount of student applications will lower by next year!"

"Uh, what do applications have to do with the Pride Games?"

They turned to see who had spoken and saw that it was only Dusk with Disco Jam on her shoulders.

"Nothing important," Ben said. "Congratulations again on winning your first trophy."

"Yeah, trophy aside, I think we might be having a problem," Dusk said nervously.

"Much bigger than me," Disco Jam offered.

"What? Winning a tie isn't good enough for you?" Audrey snapped.

"Uh, no." Dusk blinked a deadpan look at Audrey. "See, we had some reformees arriving today because they ended spring break late and...Most of them are leading a mob in Malevia Village."

 _At 10:30am in the gates of Malevia Village_

"Get back to the Isle Of The Lost!"

"Snobs! Go run back to your mommies and plush pillows!"

The gates of Malevia Village were being active with two mobs, one being from St Luther and the other from Auradon Prep, and both of them were harassing one another with insults.

"Enough!" Ben pushed his way through them until he and his friends put themselves in the middle. Literally. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'll tell you what happened!" The mob from Auradon Prep (do we have to tell you they were all VKs?) made way for Minuit Sparkle, who held a glass bottle unleashing an infectious stench. "The reformees threw this Leech Stink Bomb at Penna's window and now she's unconscious at the nurse!"

"Voldemort's daughter shouldn't be in Auradon after everything she's done!" A girl from St Luther Rose spoke up from a lamppost, and judging by the other reformees agreeing with her through angry shouts, she must have led the mob. Her shoulder-length curly hair was black with one golden streak and her attire consisted of green reading glasses, a woolen grey sweater over a white long-sleeved shirt, a black-and-white harlequin skirt with pocket designed like crucifixes, black leggings and chunky heeled boots, a green tie, and several gothic jewelry. Her green eyes burned furiously. "Even if she was brainwashed as you claimed, she's still a menace and guilty of her past crimes!"

"And how do _you_ know?" Mal asked. "What are you? Harry Potter's daughter?"

"Uh, actually Mal..." Dusk chuckled nervously. "That's Severus Snape's daughter and...apparently Penna murdered Sternia's dad."

Mal grimaced at the realization.

"Yes, my dad was Severus Snape and a fake Death Eater spying on Voldemort during the wars against him," Sternia said, "but once the Dark Lord decided my dad wasn't worth it anymore, he ordered his daughter, the witch Penna De Mort, to execute him herself. I had to watch _with my own eyes_ my father getting dissected with unimaginable curses by De Mort and having his organs eaten by her serpent. And she could have made it less painful for me by using the Killing Curse, but no!"

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to Snape," Ben tried to reason with her, "but..."

"She murdered people, kidnapped and blackmailed, tricked people into fates they didn't want because she wanted to take over the world and destroy us all!" A redhead boy wearing a green jersey over the St Luther gym uniform spoke up. "She was the one who released Blackfire and put my mom's home planet under her tyranny!"

"At least my mom raised me best than your own dumb mother, _cousin_!" Noir Du Feu hissed.

"Say one more thing about my mother! I dare you!" His hands glowed with green energy while Noir responded with purple ones. The arguing was too much for anyone to handle...

"ENOUGH!"

A boy in a dark blue cloak and purple jumpsuit levitate himself down from the air. He brought down his hood, revealing himself to be a seventeen-year-old boy with grey skin and green hair. "Please don't start making me mad," he said calmly, which surprisingly the others took seriously. "The last thing we want is to stir serious conflict..."

It was so quick. Nobody could believe it when Ruby made such a jump and managed to cut the boy's cheek with her adamantium nails. He still kept his composure but brought a hand to his bloody cheek in awe.

"RUBY!" Ben said in disbelief. "Why did you attack him?"

" _Why did I attack him_?" Ruby screamed. "I attacked him because of all the schools we had to compete, it had to be with the one attended by him!" She pointed at the grey-skinned boy. "Corbeau Roth Logan, my ex-boyfriend!"

Dusk pinched her noise in frustration. "Oy..."

" _That's_ the ruffian who cheated on you?" Martin exclaimed in horror.

"Ruffian? No, I'm the son of Raven and Beast Boy..." Corbeau began.

"Chap, do I look like I care?" Martin glared at Corbeau with a furious stare that was mutually returned by the latter.

"Oh, that's right!" Ruby hugged her boyfriend's arm while hissing at her ex-boyfriend. "What was it you said back when you broke my heart? I think it was 'that's the way it's done'. Isn't that what he told me, Martin?"

Martin nodded. "The insult!"

"That's the reformee who caused Ruby to be arrested?" Noir exclaimed. "Where's the penalty for heart abuse when you need one? And he's a family friend of my cousin to crown it all!"

"Yeah, well he wouldn't have sent Ruby to the Isle if _someone_ hadn't messed up her life!" Sternia said. "And that _someone_ is De Mort!"

" **THAT'S ENOUGH!** "

The mobs silenced, especially the one from St Luther. Somebody made her way through the reformees, making them stand in lines like in the military. She was somewhere around twenty-seven years old with neck-long orange, grey-streaked hair that was split in half (one half being messily curvy and the other tied up in a tribal braid). Her slender, curvy Caucasian form was covered with matching indigo shoulder-less cropped top and mini shorts (both having red stripes patterns), a red belt with a golden clasp that matched those on her brown military boots, grayish green fingerless gloves made of lever, a choker necklace made of actual teeth and beads, and orange tribal tattoos of feline claws and a footprint on her neck and navel respectively. Judging by how the St Luther students stiffened nervously, she must have been some sort of authority over them.

"If I didn't know you were my students, I would have treated you the same way we'd treat wild animals back at home! Discipline through mauling!" She barked at them. "It's already disturbing enough that I have to teach you rascals, but having to deal with you people throwing teenage revolutions during a time like the Pride Games? Oh, I'm _sure_ your parents will be pleased when they hear that you've been behaving like wild animals throwing bottles at other people's houses and aggressing your hosts as gratitude to having your life served on a silver platter!"

The reformees lowered their head in fear and shame.

"All of you in the mob had better scram!" the woman made them a shooing finger. "And if I don't see any of you doing thirty backward laps around the Tourney Field, you'll be having detention until any of you go to college! And if anything else happens like what you all just did, I'll personally have Principal Melchior ensure that none of you rascals ruin our reputation by participating in the Pride Games! Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the reformees said.

"And where waiting for what?" the teacher barked in exasperation, forcing all her students to make a run for it. As soon as they were gone, she turned towards the VK mob. "What are you kids looking at? Get back to your frolicking!" The same thing happened to the VKs.

"Wow, she's almost as bad as Coach Kholtas!" Carlos exclaimed until the teacher faced him by a few inches.

"You got a problem?"

"Nope." He squirmed.

"Shari?" The teacher turned her head at Ruby, who seemed to have recognized the woman enough to call her 'Shari'. The latter must have recognized Ruby as well since her expression softened.

"Stray! How've you been?" Shari shared a fist-bump with Ruby and scanned her from head to toe. "I see you finally went up with the big cats!" She laughed at her own joke.

"Yes, I've been _feline_ good!" The two of them laughed together, much to the others' confusion.

"Wait, you know this teacher from St Luther, Ruby?" Audrey blinked.

"Well, judging by the fact that Professor Sabertooth was once a..." Dusk got cut off by Shari: "Shouldn't you be running laps?"

"Ma'am, I'm a decent Equestrian girl and a student body president." Dusk crossed her arms. "Taking part in mobs is just immature."

"But you can't even keep a mob from happening?" Minuit asked sarcastically.

" _Anyway_ ," Ruby went back to the main topic. "Shari Sabertooth used to be a mentor of mine during my days as a cat burglar in Gotham. Everything she taught me, I used them when I was spending a year away from my mom before I got arrested." She then turned to look at her old mentor-friend. "Speaking of which, Shari, how come a part-time cat burglar like you is teaching at St Luther and **WHY IS MY EX THERE?** " The last words screamed their way out of her mouth that Shari had to slightly back away from Ruby in order to protect her hearing.

" _Well_ , I ended being caught a year and a half ago after trying to pull a golden tooth out of a duke's mouth, but when my trial came, they looked a lot in my Anti-Heroic Resumé..."

"There's an Anti-Heroic Resumé?" Mal asked.

"Yep. If an antihero gets arrested, he or she can be pardoned or charged depending on their history. So while I could have been charged for multiple thefts and near murder attempt because some guy harassed me, I ended up pardoned because I was surprisingly good at holding a decent reputation along with my part-time criminal identity by graduating from college, taking part in charity events, donating at wig factories, and since my parents were Diego and Shira the sabertooth tigers, I had some credibility." Shari then scowled. "But of course, as well as being pardoned, I had to make up for the thefts, so they gave me three options: teaching at St Luther's, the place I actually went to before college, spending ten years on the Isle Of The Lost, or be confined to ten years as a sabertooth in a local petting zoo. And there's _no way_ I'd let a bunch of brats touch me at the petting zoo!"

"Or spend ten years on the Isle?" Dusk put her hands on her hips.

"I could have gone with that but you know cats are not good in enclosed spaces and lots of water surrounding them." Shari shrugged. "So here I am, stuck at being a coach at St Luther until I'm old enough to retire...which might be at the age of 39, since most humanoid sabertooth tigers aren't known to last long ever since the Ice Age ended!" She reverted back to being calm. "Oh, yeah, sorry that you're going to have to deal with Corbeau, Stray, but he and the other students born from antiheroic superheroes and military officials have every right to attend St Luther. I can't help you out with that one... Even though I still understand why you dated him in the first place, the kid's a complete stiff tree!"

"How many times do you think I've been asking that?" Ruby hissed as her fists tightened. Martin gently patted her on the shoulder.

"Tea at Wonka Latte this afternoon?" he asked soothingly. Ruby lifted her head up and made a pause before answering: "Please pick me up at 3pm."

"Teatime isn't until four, Ruby." Martin frowned.

"Are you suggesting you don't want to spend all afternoon with me?" Ruby pouted and widened her eyes, making Martin shiver.

"I can pick you up at two! Just don't do the kitty eyes on me, I'm begging you!" Martin begged as he shielded his eyes from Ruby, who stopped her scenario and smiled pleasingly at him.

"That guy's a keeper." Shari pointed at Martin. "You'd better take good care of Stray here, pal, or I _will_ be making you run laps around the tourney field until you wear out!"

"Shouldn't you be checking on the other students on the tourney field, Professor?" Dusk quickly asked Shari.

"You're right. I have to report to Principal Melchior about the rascals' misbehaving." She rubbed her hands mischievously.

 _At lunchtime, during the lunch break_

"I assume you all understand why I'm severely disappointed with all of you."

Principal Melchior was pacing through the tables that were occupied by the St Luther students at lunchtime. His footsteps were literally making crunching sounds on the soft grass as if the outdoor cafeteria was made of smashed chips. None of the reformees said anything and nearly curled into their chairs, which stunned their rivals.

"Should I see anymore of your youthful scandals like what you just did today, I won't be as easy-going as Balthazar was to you! For assaulting a student of our host school, despite her troubling background, you all have a warning! Expulsion from St Luther Rose Academy and a demand for drafting towards juvenile hall will leave a good mark on your academic credits!" His students whimpered, making it clear that he wasn't joking as he left to go back inside.

"The guy's a menace!" Ingwer said as she and Sean joined Ben, Dusk, and the others as they sat by the stairs to eat. "Does he know that juvie kids get shipped to the Isle? Not that I have pity for the reformees, but _no_ teen should be on the Isle!"

Some people came towards them: Minuit and Jessie helping Penna sit on the steps. The daughter of Voldemort looked in a state worse than usual. Now her lavender skin was getting pale enough to match white paint on the houses at Barcelona. "Eesh, Penna, you look worse than usual!" Evie gasped.

"Jessie, _please,_ sarcastic remark..." Penna groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

"Got it." The daughter of the Joker and Harley Quinn got up and stretched herself before standing in front of the others as if she were doing an outdoor performance. "The boss is currently unenthusiastic to perform her expression today, so I will be doing it as her understudy." She cleared her throat before bursting into an imitated voice of Penna De Mort that sounded so much like the real thing. "Well _excuse me_ if I'm the one being tortured on the spine, but unlike _some_ fortunate souls, _I_ have the disadvantage of being unable to die! Get used to it!" Jessie then made a theatrical bow as some applauded.

"Wow, _that_ was a good imitation!" Sean winked.

"Yeah, it almost seemed like the real thing! For a moment, I actually thought you were Penna!" Dusk said, making the others laugh. "Oh, wait until you meet Mina, she's _so_ good at making impressions!"

An explosion suddenly came, startling everyone, and a scream followed. Some had to blink until they saw something falling down the sky, prompting them to scream and make a run for it until they saw that it was some sort of metal board with a fiery engine attached to the back. The smoke it caused started to disappear as it broke into pieces and sent two girls flying onto a tree.

"What the heck?" Ben exclaimed while Dusk and some of the other reformees went to see their two classmates trying to get down until Ronilda came in and kicked on the tree trunk, making the girls fall of the tree and reveal themselves as Grinchelda and the blue punk girl they had seen arriving at Auradon Prep in Ronilda's car.

"Grinchelda! Mina! _What_ are you doing?" an exasperated Dusk demanded.

"Experimenting," Mina shrugged as she brushed off the leaves she got on her dark blue, black-bolt motif rock jacket and black metallic skirt. She also wore blue chunky heeled boots made of alligator skin, spiked jewelry on her necklace, wristbands, and belt, and black fingerless gloves. What surprised those from Auradon Prep was that her hair was unusually longer than it was last Wednesday. That day, her punk blue hair had been pulled to the left side of her head in a Mohawk style, but today it was long enough to reach her hips and was brushed and gelled to make it spiky like a porcupine's quills.

"We're working on the prototype for the XHS-100," Grinchelda said. "You know, the Xmas Hover Sleigh 100. That way finding parking won't be so terrible during Christmas deliveries!"

"I'm sorry, how is this going to help you deliver in the first place?" Minuit frowned. "You're telling me that you're going to carry a thousand presents all on your back while you have to fly around on this?"

" _When_ the XHS-100 will be perfected!" Mina pulled Grinchelda into a friendly embrace. "It's all of MEGA, Mina and Grinchelda's Grandiose Association, the company we're planning on building together in the future! Unless of course, we call it GAME, Grinchelda and Mina's Enterprise!"

"Associate Mind, we agreed that MEGA works best due to your eccentric naming talents!" Grinchelda giggled. Without realizing it, the daughter of the Grinch and Martha May began snapping in rhythm, which led to a couple nearby Troll teens pushing a DJ set from which Dusk and Disco Jam began to toy with like they did back at the party.

"Ya ever notice how for some reason, people burst into song?" Ronilda asked Melgo while Mina and Grinchelda began dancing and jumping on the tables at the delight of the rhythmic clapping reformees.

Grinchelda: _There's so much about business that most don't know,_

 _Ya gotta do it in style and brains and make it a show._

 _I'm not gotta lie, I got da brains,_

 _But when it comes to style, you my friend make a rose send whiny complains!_

Somebody tossed Grinchelda a rose that she ended up ripping the petals and tossing them to Mina like in a parade.

Mina: _Ain't gonna lie, it's the Megamind gift!_

 _That's my old man, in case ya missed._

 _He was like 'presentation is the trick',_

 _That's why fashion and technology is as easy as puttin' on lipstick!_

Mina uncapped a stick of blue lipstick and aimed it at the air, creating a ball of blue and red disco lights while most of the other reformees joined in the singing.

Reformees: _Go for gold, shoot for the stars_

 _You'll be walking down the carpet like superstars!_

 _You geniuses!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _Check us under the disco sequences!_

Reformees: _You geniuses!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _We'll be piling with cash, no time for grievances!_

Reformees: _You'll be the ones we all wanna see!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _You can just put is now in the beauty category!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _Check us under the disco sequences!_

Grinchelda: _Just don't get me wrong or something,_

 _I don't wanna be like the fancy pants that are always rushing!_

 _But in the future MEGA dynasty we plan to built,_

 _They'll be wishing to be like us and die in guilt!_

Mina: _Tech, coolness, badass, and creativity_

 _Mashed together, we form one perfect individuality!_

Grinchelda: _In the business field, that's how we enter_

Mina and Grinchelda: _Lots of cash comes from working together!_

As if rehearsed, the reformees pushed together the tables in order to let Mina and Grinchelda (both wearing shades) make their groove on them like on a catwalk while Troll teens shot glitter in the air full of Mina's light show.

Reformees: _Go for gold, shoot for the stars_

 _You'll be walking down the carpet like superstars!_

 _You geniuses!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _Check us under the disco sequences!_

Reformees: _You geniuses!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _We'll be piling with cash, no time for grievances!_

Reformees: _You'll be the ones we all wanna see!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _You can just put is now in the beauty category!_

Mina and Grinchelda: _Check us under the disco sequences!_

"That...was..." Ben clasped his hands together, unable to find the right word.

"Interesting?" Dusk suggested deadpan.

"Sure, let's go with that."

 _Later on in the afternoon_

Unexpected rain came pouring later on in the afternoon, trapping some of the students in either their housing areas or the large game room that Auradon Prep kept closed unless it was pouring outside and wanted to spare the students from boredom. Since 3pm, the pool table, babyfoot, pinball machine, video game screen, regular TV, and the lounge chairs were filled with students from both schools who had no problem socializing with one another.

"Oh, I just got a text from Ruby!" Lonnie picked her phone while she, Dusk, Genny, and Mal were busy playing a game of Uno. "'Stuck in movie theater because of rain...'" Lonnie snorted a laugh as she read further on. "'Will be watching every single movie until it stops!'"

"They're actually spending three hours watching movies?" Genny put down her card. "HA! UNO!"

"Seriously? Again?" Mal groaned.

"We already managed to trick them into going to see a marathon of the first HOW I MET YOUR DEVIL season just so that we could finally push them out of the friend zone and into the romance zone!" Nora Belartiste snickered at the memory as she watched Gilliard Moss and Mystère Darkholme play another round of the Zombie Mayhem XII video game against Ronilda. "Didn't we, Gilliard?"

"Can't talk, I got a Squeeb Junior to take down!" Gilliard concentrated on tapping furiously on his control while Mystère did the same thing and Ronilda just played calmly.

"Wait for it..." Dusk held out her right hand and began to bring down her fingers one by one as if to count down the seconds until...

"BOOYAH! I win **again**!" Ronilda jumped on her seat and did another victory dance. "Ron's got the boys crushed on dah-feat!" She sang in a singsong voice.

"This is the twentieth time we played against her and she still managed to win!" Mystère angrily put his control back on the shelf while Ronilda was high-fiving her pet naked mole rat Reedy.

"Jesus, what do you do in your spare time?" Gilliard asked in exasperation at Ronilda.

"Let's see: practicing my ninjutsu, shopping at the mall, mostly at Club Banana, read comic books, train my Pokemon, play with Reedy, go to video game conventions with my pal Felicia Renton back in Middleton, blackmail Mr. B into letting me anything I want unless I want to send the fashion police running after him, keep letting my parents spoil me because they don't want me to be like them..." Ronilda grimaced as she continued her list, "cry in my pillow everytime I think about my ex, spend more time with Uncle Drew and Auntie Shego because my parents don't have time for me, punch a boxing bag with Ruby's face on it because she's with my ex, wallow over the fact that I haven't seen my parents for Christmas or my birthday since I was five, kick any tall, dark, barely handsome British guys because they'll just remind me of my tall, dark, super handsome ex, hate my parents because they left me in a Japanese monastery to be raised by ninjas...GIVE ME A BREAK!" Ronilda ran out of the break room in tears, leaving some of the other students who had been watching rather speechless.

"Eesh, I didn't realize that her life was that horrible," Gilliard said guilty.

"Put yourself in her shoes and pretend your Ronilda." Genny shuffled the Uno cards and passed them around. "Your mom's Kim Possible, who works as an international diplomat and travels a lot to keep peace due to her past experiences, and your dad's Ronald Stoppable, the current CEO of the Bueno Nacho Company who made serious cash by creating the sibling of his first BN creation the naco by bringing in the nachurrito, the hybrid of nachos and burritos. With all the money they make every week, your Mom and Dad are quintetrillionaires and make five times more than an average millionaire, which means that you get six mansions to live in, all the cars, clothes, jewels, celebutante fame, guys who keep hitting on you, and etcetera."

"The only problem in your perfect life is that with all their job businesses, your parents have zero time for you, which means that most of your family time is spent with your Uncle, Dr. Drakken, Auntie Shego, and 'Cousin' Melgo or with the rest of the Possible/Stoppable family or with your Japanese 'family' in Yamanouchi," Dusk filled in for Genny as the latter was busy giving Lonnie a Plus Four card. "And the only thing your parents can come up with as an excuse for not seeing you and suggesting that you don't do the same teenage crime-fighter career like Mom did is by sending you a card saying: 'Sorry we couldn't see you on your birthday. But hey! Here's a new car to convince you how much we love you!' Which then leads to a car accident that nearly threatens your life when your eight and your parents worry that everyone has a thing against you so they have to make you move into Yamanouchi, where you learn to be a ninja while still continuing to be a rebellious teenager who ended up stuck in St Luther with so many friendly reformees because you want all reckless trying to get attention from your folks!"

"And let's not forget the part in your life where you had to go after some monkey boy criminal for stealing a relic from your guardians and you ended up falling for the guy and sharing a 24 hour long mutual romance until he saw your parents' MISSING CHILD paper and he coldly rejected you because he thought you were toying with him, leaving you bitter and alone for years. The End."

Gilliard rubbed his webbed hands in uneasiness. "Eesh, now this makes me feel like I had it easy back on the Isle."

"Wait," Nora asked, "you mean he broke up with her _rather_ badly and she's _still_ crushing on him? That's messed up!"

"Welcome to my world," Dusk sighed.

"YES!" Mal threw her last card on the table, feeling victorious about finally winning a round, but when she saw that Genny, the expert at card shuffling and probability analysis, had managed to make sure that the only cards she, Lonnie, and Dusk had were cards that went from 0 to 2. "Oh, come on! That's it! I give up!"

"And the first place goes to _moi!_ " Genny high-fived Dusk. "Way to go, second place!"

"Eh. I do my math homework," Dusk said. A scratching sound of non-stop channel switching bugged their ears and made them look at the Troll teens who still had a hard time figuring out which channel to watch. "Disco, would it kill you to finally pick a channel?"

"Not my fault that the only networks in the area are sports, soap operas, reality shows, and the news!" Disco Jam complained while motioning a hand at a blue Troll girl with light blue hair fashioned in a curly Renaissance hairstyle, a purple petticoat dress, and a glowworm wearing a matching dress that she cuddled in her arms. "And then there's Petite who's worried that Mrs. Twinkles can't watch any PG-rated channel!"

"I'll have you know that she has a very sensitive heart!" Petite said defensively in a surprising British accent. "Isn't that right, Mrs. Twinkles?" The glowworm only gave out a sound that sounded like 'Mew', thus making most of the students blink in confusion. The doors bursted open and Cassie and Mina came rushing in, scooting their way into the lounge chairs in order to sit next to Lonnie.

"Hey, Lon, where are Haya, Macy, Kory, and Xaos?" Cassie shook Lonnie by the arm. "I've been looking everywhere for them in order to have them sign a poster that Mina has and I CAN'T FIND THEM!"

"Oh, yeah, abut that," Lonnie said nervously. "I forgot to tell you that they kinda went on a trip with Louie King, his son Louie King Junior, and Sirenius..."

"LJ went with them?" Mina frowned.

"You know him?" Mal said.

"Sure we do. Since Louie King used to be _King Louie_ , therefore an antihero, LJ was put in St Luther's since kindergarten."

"Well that explains why we never saw him in Auradon Prep."

"LJ kept saying for weeks that his dad was taking him on a trip to see a festival, but he wasn't precise when saying which one he was going to specifically..."

Loud music suddenly bursted from the TV and everyone saw that the Troll teens had finally picked the channel recording live the Festival of Music Awards in New York City. Citizens were going wild as the spokesmen brought in the top ten most nationally loved musicians and the latters performed their top hit songs before getting their deserved reward: a golden music note trophy. And guess who was singing in second place?

' _And that, folks, was the Dark Rulers band from the Isle Of The Lost with their hit song 'Knock 'Em Dead', the #2 most popular sing in da nation!'_ The crowd went wild as the Dark Rulers bowed to them and did a happy group hug after receiving the Silver Music Note Trophy! The students from Auradon Prep cheered as they watched it on the TV screen.

"They actually made it in the top ten?" Cassie gasped in awe. "So cool!"

"That's why they went on the trip," Lonnie explained. "Ever since they were getting their music recorded through Louie King's radio station, fans went wild and the number of song purchases on ITunes really increased, so they got a call from the people in charge of the Festival of Music Awards and begged them to join the other popular musicians on a week-long national tour to sing at stadiums, charity events, and so on until they make their final stop today at New York where they reveal the top ten popular musicians in Auradon. It's still a shame that they only made it in second place..."

 _'And let's bring it up for Auradon's best musician ever! Also coming from the Isle and driving the crowd crazy with his hit song 'I'm Still Standing'! SIRENIUS DAZZLE!'_ And sure enough, the son of Adagio Dazzle himself was seen on TV being so happy as he held his golden trophy in front of the crowd cheering for him wildly.

" _He_ made it?" Nora snorted. "Even after the Dark Rulers went to Auradon, he couldn't beat Penna, Jessie, and Minuit during the Battle Of The Bands!"

"They just took part in it because it was all part of 'Penna's great plan to take over the world by spying on us and see who had the most powerful marks of villainy while actually, she was brainwashed by her old man'." Mystère waved his hand dramatically. "Ring a bell?"

"Well, he _does look kinda cute_." Dusk tried to hold back a giggle. Maligna, who had been at the pool table, turned away from her game and addressed Dusk.

"Dusk, he's the bad guy's kid in our story, remember?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Uh, you'll have to be a bit more precise when you say the bad guy, because I hear that ponies from all over have a lot of bad guys." Mina pointed out. "I mean, there was Lonnie's would-have-been-future-mother-in-law, Havoc's annoying dad, a bullhead, a bunch of sirens, a communist unicorn, a hateful king, a morphing queen, school bullies, competitive horse brains, horsey sirens, _your_ bragging old lady, Dusk's reformed raging she-demon old lady, a crazy alicorn who tried to rip off reality, a snobby principal, and some camp director who went all Gaia gaga."

Maligna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "The _point_ is that it's been proved before that romantically pairing up arch-foes is not a good idea! Have you seen how Ronilda is ever since Martin Fiske broke up with her?"  
"Maligna, I _just_ said I thought Sirenius was _cute_. Where did you hear me say I wanted to date him? Although you are right about Ronilda being an entire emotional wreck..."

"Plus we should inform that VKs have been going out with Auradonians from different sides of history," Lonnie said. "So your negative comment is invalid."

"Let's be real, Fa Li, you were like literally mentally stalked by your boyfriend and most of the Auradonians at your school are dimwitted," Maligna scoffed. The Auradonian students from Auradon Prep present in the game room gasped in horror and were prepared to get violent until heaven got lucky and requested a mandatory gathering of the two schools in the auditorium.

 _Later, in the auditorium_

"I can't believe the audacity of Maligna Trixie to call us Auradonians dimwitted!" Eleanor exclaimed after Mal told her what had happened in the game room.

"Perhaps Maligna just said it to make Dusk look bad," Gitane suggested.

"What makes you say that, Gitane?" Mal asked.

"Even though I only spent a month of 7th grade at St Luther, I knew Dusk and Maligna quite well and learned the heated tension between their mothers, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie. After Sunset Shimmer reformed from her mistake of stealing Equestrian magic to create an army of teenage zombies, most of the human teenagers had a hard time forgiving and assumed she wanted to sabotage things during the Battle Of The Bands. And Trixie...kinda personally ticked off Sunset in order to isolate her even further. That's why Maligna and Dusk are rivals: even though they are well-meaning, Maligna can't resist bragging and she feels inferior compared to Dusk, who's more popular and admired. I also heard that even though Maligna is currently a St Luther cheerleader and surprisingly in love with Speciosus, she still can't outshine Dusk's spark as student body president."

Ben tapped on his microphone to get everyone's attention. Fairy Godmother and Principal Melchior were both standing next to him and the former seemed to be tapping her fingers nervously on a royal scroll she was holding. "Everyone, thank you very much for coming," Ben said. "We have two situations going on: one good and one bad. The good one is that this Monday, the second Pride Games event will take place: the academic decathlon!" Cheers and murmurs were heard at the mention of the next event.

"The bad news is that all of the tension going on between Auradon Prep and St Luther is not helping at all with an upcoming problem." Ben gave the microphone to Fairy Godmother.

"Children," she said rather tensely, "I know that many you have problems to work on, but with what happened early today with the mobs at the housing area of most of my students, I fear that Auradon will be ruined." Her words caused the crowd to be rather confused, so Fairy Godmother continued in order to clear their minds. She showed them the scroll she was holding. "I just received a royal decree from the Fae Realm..."

"The Fae Realm?" Darcy Fae gasped. "That's the kingdom of the fairies! Every fairy, good or bad, is a servant to its rulers! Even the Fairy Godmother can't protest against their orders!"

"And right now they just unleashed the Fairy Queen and Bog King's last royal decree before they pass the throne to their sole son on this coming summer solstice." Fairy Godmother trembled as she told them the decree's content. "As his last royal action before switching his title to sovereign of the Fae Realm, the prince himself will have to go himself to the human realm, specifically in Auradon, to see if it's worth it to finally agree a royal alliance and future trading cooperation. It would be a blessing if he gives us a good review, but should he see us negatively, our kingdom's relation would be ruined and his royal ancestors the fairy deities Titania and Oberon would unleash curses on us all for 'dismissing fairy potential'!"

"But he's so stiff!" Carlos said. "Trying to impress him is almost like failing to impress Maleficent into not cursing your baby after not inviting her!"

"Wait, you met the prince?" Jay frowned.

"I went with Jane and her mom to the Fae Realm during the holidays. Charming place, but the royals there aren't as soft as the flowers. When is he coming?"

"Tomorrow," Ben answered. We'll be hosting a first-class evening at my castle to welcome him, and during the following weeks he'll be inspecting our ways of living and perhaps attend some of the Pride Games events until he has to go back to the Fae Realm to give his feedback and see if we're worth the bother. Since tomorrow night will be a first-class evening dinner for only royals and aristocrats, as it is traditional to welcome a royal diplomat as such, all the royal and aristocrat born currently present can attend and bring a date with them."

All the royal and aristocrat born were talking in excitement about the evening dinner. "But let us remind you that this is supposed to be a welcoming event to give his Highness a good impression of us," Principal Melchior warned. "So we hope that how you present yourself to his Highness tomorrow won't reflect how you've been behaving towards one another lately. The prince is visiting as an ambassador solely to investigate whether or not the Fae Realm and Auradon are worth allying for trading and mutual respect. Are we clear?"

The entire crowd nodded.

"Good. You are now all dismissed and I believe it's time for most of you to go nuts into figuring out what to wear for tomorrow."

The meeting was now over and soon enough, all those planning to go to tomorrow night's royal evening dinner were running back to their dorms, despite the possibility of being soaked, and throwing everything out of their closets in order to pick their outfits.


	7. The Prince Of The Fae Realm

Chapter 7: The Prince Of The Fae Realm

Sunday was quite a busy day. Everyone was trying to keep every single inch of Auradon clean: grass mowed, trees and plants tended, gold-and-blue banners, balloons, and ribbons decorating the streets all the way to the castle, Ben's servants preparing the dining hall for the evening dinner...and a few students preparing for the academic decathlon.

"It shouldn't be too hard," Doug said as he and Evie quickly reviewed their textbooks while walking around the main courtyard of the castle, where the prince of the Fae Realm would make his entrance and be escorted to the evening dinner in a few hours. "Six representatives of each school, three boys and three girls per school, have to answer a series of twelve brain-challenging questions and hit a buzzer first in order to answer first. Whichever contestant answers the most questions correctly wins for his or her school. Should be a piece of cake."

"How is answering nerdy questions a piece of cake?" Carlos frowned. Jane poked him with her elbow as to tell him to not discourage them.

"Should be a piece of cake for us," Evie said. "For Team Auradon, we got me, Doug, Manny, Aaricia, Martin, and..." Evie hesitated. "Penna."

"Penna's taking part of the second role? That can't be good!" Mal gasped as she and Dusk helped some servants set up the red carpet.

"Isn't she extremely intelligent?" Dusk asked. "I mean, from my perspective, someone who spent a lot of her life planning the fates of villains so that she could take over the world does take a high I.Q."

"True." No one added in the usual 'Voldemort brainwashed her' reason. "But because of what happened in Malevia Village yesterday, she's freaked out that if she competes in the decathlon and she ends up winning for Auradon because of her inability to hold true information..."

"I'm sorry?" Dusk was getting confused.

"You'd be surprised, but for the daughter of Voldemort, I'm a terrible liar." Penna and Ben came from inside the palace and down the stairs to join them. Penna looked better from yesterday but still depressed. "Thanks for one lie that I told Voldemort when I was six, he cursed me to be unable to lie to him ever again, which is why I'm not so used to apply lies on others."

"You still managed to make truth hurt," Carlos pointed out bluntly.

"Gee, you make me feel better." She glared at him in sarcasm. "Mal's right: I don't want to do the decathlon because if I do, I'll just end up causing another mob. And Ben was unable to convince the U.N to have me replaced. They insist that my presence is required as part of my 'rehabilitation validation'."

"I'm seriously sorry, Penna," Dusk said guilty. "I didn't think my classmates would be crazy enough to do a mob at times like the Pride Games..."

"Sure, the same way I didn't expect anyone to pick on me while everything was Voldemort's fault!" Penna snapped. "Maybe you should have let me die in the first place when he tried possessing me! Maybe if Lonnie hadn't asked the Villains Comet to bring me back, none of you would have to deal with me worse than you did on the Isle!"

The others were taken aback by what she said. A honking sound was heard and a purple Nissan pickup truck pulled in, went around the central fountain of the courtyard, and stopped in front of Penna. The window pulled down, revealing the driver to be Minuit. "Need a lift, boss?"

"You finally got a...I thought you said you wanted a compact car!" Penna scratched her head in confusion. Minuit Sparkle, as part of her community service, worked part-time at a garage downtown.

"I did, but turns out that my boss sold hand-me-down pickup trucks at a lower price than the compact car I saved my cash for, so I bought and adjusted this beauty!"

"It does match your style." Ben nodded. Meanwhile, Penna got up on the passenger seat. "Wait, Penna! Aren't you going to tonight's evening dinner?" Evie asked.

"Why? So that I can ruin it again?" Penna buckled herself.

"You really got to give yourself a chance," Ben said sternly. "If you want people to have faith in you as a good person, you need to have faith in yourself as faith."

"I lost that faith twice, the first one a hundred years ago and the last one three months ago. Let's face it: even though I would like to change, nature doesn't want me to." She silently closed the passenger door. Before she brought up the window, she sighed quietly. "And honestly, even though I'm from noble blood, my presence would not make things better for your business with the prince of the Fae Realm." The car then pulled out, leaving them speechless.

"She's not going to the decathlon tomorrow, am I right?" Dusk guessed.

"Yep," Carlos said.

"Penna De Mort is a woman of her word," Ben said. "And she swore on the River Styx to the U.N that Penna De Mort would be at the decathlon."

 _Later, at sunset_

Crowds of citizens were cheering as they waited in anticipation outside and inside the castle's fortress for the arrival of the prince of the Fae Realm. Balloons were unleashed, fanfare was playing, fireworks were booming in the sky. Everyone was waiting in excitement to see the prince's carriage pull in and for King Ben, his girlfriend Mal, and all the descendants born from royalty or aristocracy and their dates to welcome him. Most of them were wearing outfits that they either wore on Ben's coronation, the Halloween Gala, or other special occasions depending on the individual it concerned.

"Hey, Carlos," Jay asked while he gallantly held Audrey's hand, "since you know the prince, you probably know what he's like, right?"

"He's...well...He's..."

"HERE THEY COME!"

The gates opened and in came a parade of fairies wielding gallant floral banners of the Fae Realm kingdom. The crowd from Auradon gasped in awe, for unlike the fairies they had seen like Fairy Godmother and Jane, those had a perfect physique of short colorful hair, thin fingers that went well with their slender forms, eyes that brightened in the sunlight, uniforms made of plant leaves and flower petal motifs that flowed with the wind, and majestic butterfly winds that shone in the last rays of sunlight.

"They're beautiful..." Audrey gasped. The banner-wielding fairies were followed by dozens of dark-skinned elf girls throwing jeweled petals in the air, making everyone even more stunned...Until the stunned mood turned into slightly disturbed shock when they saw the rows of guards marching in. A real mix of fairies and elves in armor, but also tall, average, and short grotesque looking creatures who each possessed three-fingers per hand and had physiques of monstrous fish-like, anteater-like, frog-like, rodent-like, or pudgy characteristics. Just like the fairies and elves, they wore armor.

"Goblins," Crystal Maze realized. "How could I forget it? The Bog King Lysander, the current sovereign king of the Fae Realm and the ex-sole ruler of the Dark Forest, is a _goblin_."

Finally, the carriage of the prince came. Twice the height of a human, a carriage that could rival a Queen Elizabeth carriage with its golden parts carved like hummingbirds, floral vines, and leaves, and drawn by two grey horses, the carriage made its way until it stopped in front of the red carpet. A royal announcer from Ben's court stepped in front of the carriage's passenger door and spoke loud and clear after the trumpets silenced the crowds: "Announcing the awaited arrival of the Crown Prince and heir of the Fae Realm throne, descendant of fairy deities Titania and Oberon, and ambassador in Auradon, Marius Bogfae!"

"This is it," Fairy Godmother sighed as she, Jane, and Carlos stepped next to Ben and Mal in the front row.

"This is it!" some of the princess descendants were squeaking.

"This is it." The royal announcer started to grab hold of the door's handle.

"This is it," an old man said. He opened a box and white doves came flying out as soon as the announcer opened the door and out stepped the prince with his royal company. The crowd gasped in a mix of shock, confusion, and horror at the sight of the prince that even one of the doves lost focus while flying and landed head first on a wall.

If anyone had paid attention to what Crystal Maze had said, the Bog King who ruled the Fae Realm and who married the Fairy Queen was a goblin, which could clearly mean that the prince was a hybrid of the two species. Everyone assumed they were dealing with a tough-on-the-inside-but-beautiful-on-the-outside prince charming in shining armor and rainbow butterfly wings. Reality hit them hard with a seventeen-year-old prince made of an athletic exoskeleton that made his skin look like dry bark, leaf and vine patterned green tunic, golden belt, dark blue sleeves and pants, red-armor epaulettes and fingerless gloves, maroon sandal boots, and fingerless cyan gauntlets. His nails were sharp, no sign of hair was on his head and were replaced by brown horns forming around a golden jewel like a crown, elfish pointy ears grew on the sides, a pair of majestic dragonfly wings with colorful glass-like patterns stuck on his back, and sharp hazel eyes stared at the welcoming committee. Behind him stood two goblin teens, a female with fish-like features and a male with swamp-like features who were both barefoot and wearing dirty soil colored clothes, and a crowned blue woman made entirely out of sparkles and mist.

Not a single cricket was heard.

To break the silence, Fairy Godmother spoke first. "Your Majesty," she said as she and Jane bent their backs forward and bowed to their monarch, "we are pleased to welcome you in Auradon..."

"I didn't realize the human kingdom you're slaving off at was castle-sized," Prince Marius Bogfae said flatly, making Fairy Godmother and Jane tense nervously. Others were feeling uneasy: the prince had only been here for a few seconds and he already thought that Auradon was a puny kingdom.

Ben decided it was time to step up. "We assure you that Auradon's size and vale is much bigger than this area, Prince Marius, and our diplomats will be glad to show you around." He shook hands with the prince, who hardly seemed affected by his speech. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Benjamin Florian, son of Belle and the Beast, and the king of Auradon. And this here is my girlfriend and princess-in-training, Mal the daughter of Maleficent." Mal curtsied as she held hands with Ben. She smiled nervously at Prince Marius, who looked more unconvinced than usual and gave a dry clap in his hand.

"Well done, just well done your Majesty," he said coldly. "I barely put a foot in your kingdom and your first impressions on me are fairies as personal inferior pets to humans and mocking me with one who used a love potion on you in the past. I'm judging you didn't do your research on my family history."

"Is that...what you did with ours?" Mal dared to ask nervously.

"No, _he_ told me when he was afraid of me when we first met." He pointed a finger at Carlos. "How've you been?"

"Good, thank you." Carlos bowed sheepishly. Meanwhile, the Fairy Godmother and the blue misty woman were having a little heartfelt reunion.

"It's very nice to see you again, Plum," Fairy Godmother said. "I hope dealing with the fairy affairs at the royal court weren't so busy lately."

"Don't be ridiculous!" The fairy replied in a rather hyper voice as if she spent too much time alone and swallowing sugar. "It's not that hard!"

"Right. 'King' Ben, do take the liberty of meeting the Sugar Plum Fairy, Head Fairy of my parents' fairy court," Prince Marius showed them to Ben, "and the twins Kit and Junk, my personal assistants. They've been tasked to act as secondary jury and advisor respectively while I see if your kingdom's worth partnering with." He glared at Ben as the former pulled out a writing pad and quill made of plant thorns and slightly shook them in his hand. "So I do _beg_ that you don't waste the spring season for me."

 _The dining hall, later on_

The dining hall was full of guests, hosts, and servants doing their things. An orchestra sat at a corner and played a soothing tune while servants cleared the tables of the empty bowls of the pumpkin soup with crème fraiche and plates of caviar that had been served. The royal and aristocratic descendants made small talk and Fairy Godmother and Ben and Mal were out of words as they saw their guests from the Fae Realm hardly talk. Nor did they take average-sized bites from the appetizers. It seemed like not even the royal cuisine could attract the admiration of the prince, which could be a factor for the no alliance between the kingdoms, and that made Ben nervous.

"So, your Majesty," Artemis Nightmare spoke up to break the silence, "it has been told that your kingdom is actually the result of two kingdoms united together. Isn't that correct?" Since Artemis was of royal alicorn blood and the prince of Nightmare Moon's kingdom in the lost Everfree Sector of the Isle and was now under the custody of his mother's good half, Princess Luna of Canterlot, he had the title of prince and was able to attend the evening dinner, with Lonnie as his expected plus one.

"Quite right." Prince Marius barely blinked his eyes as he drank small sips from his cup of water. "The Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest were at each other's throats for numerous generations until my parents finally put an end to it twenty-five years ago."

"Was it the power of diplomacy?" Martin asked curiously. "It seemed like diplomacy worked 80% of the times it was applied."

"Sadly I wished they did use it," the prince shook his head. "Unfortunately, it was because my parents fell in love and saw common traits between each other and the two peoples approved of the interspecies romance and thus leading to a newly formed kingdom." Prince Marius rolled his eyes. "The _number_ of times I've repeatedly heard that story."

"Do tell." A voice spoke up and all eyes turned to see Dårlig dressed in the uniform of the royal cooking staff and leading a line of servants bringing in the entrées.

"Dårlig? What are you doing here?" Mal frowned.

"Seriously?" The Bergen looked at her skeptically. "I job-shadow the chef here as part of my part-time job in the castle kitchen as part of my rehabilitation record and you spend most of your time with your boyfriend the king without noticing that I work here?" He managed to put Mal to shame and she blushed in embarrassment. Ben held her hand underneath the tablecloth. Meanwhile, Prince Marius stared at Dårlig in curiosity.

"This is the first time I actually meet a Bergen," he said fascinated. "Although I was told before that they were miserable folks who relied on eating Trolls to gain happiness, it looks like you've been healthily happy without even swallowing a strand of Troll hair. How is possible?"

"Well I never ate one and my girlfriend is a Troll." Dårlig clasped his hands together as the servants put the dishes on the table. "So, to ensure that you did feel at home, I suggested to the chef that we serve a combination of traditional Auradonian dishes and the traditional succulent recipes from the Fae Realm royal cuisine. You know, that way you wouldn't feel forced about eating only human food."

"My, how thoughtful of you!" The prince said gratefully. "So, what are the _plats du jour_?"

Dårlig snapped his fingers and the servants removed the covers of the dishes, filling the air with a mix of delicious scents. Many of the descendants sitting down sighed longingly at the scent of roasted pork, mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs, potpies, black beans and rice, and other foods they were used to eating, but they also gasped in a mix of disturbance, surprise, and shocking disgust when they saw the Fae Realm dishes.

"Roasted toad, poppy petal and ivy leaf salad, sweeten flower nectar juice, swamp water noodle soup, and snail brochettes on the house! Bon appétit!" Dårlig said.

"Dibs on the brochettes!" Kit and Junk started to tackle one another to get a hold of the dish, leaving Carlos the opportunity to grab one of them and eat it, stunning his classmates that he actually enjoyed food that seemed grotesque in their eyes and nearly made them throw up in their 'normal' food. Fairy Godmother and the Sugar Plum Fairy gave each other a cheer as they drank the nectar juice, and Ben watched as Prince Marius enjoyed the roasted toad. With such a surprising turn of event, Dårlig might have just given Auradon a chance to impress the Crown Prince of the Fae Realm.

"This is by far the best roasted toad I've ever tasted!" Prince Marius congratulated Dårlig. "Even Junk here couldn't do better and he works at the kitchens back home!"

"Ha! You just got busted, bro!" Kit taunted her brother, who didn't respond due to his mouth being full of food.

"I must say, dear old friend, that your monarch's cuisine is very considerate," the Sugar Plum Fairy told Fairy Godmother until the former started to scan the seats full of descendants continuing to eat, "but I noticing that somebody of nobility blood is missing."

"There is?" F.G glanced nervously at Ben.

"It must be Macy," Ruby said as she passed the Caesar salad bowl to Martin. "Please do forgive her absence, but she had to attend a national festival of music award. She and her friends make some good music, you know?" Ben and F.G made small sighs of relief that silently thanked Ruby for covering them.

"Oh, I already knew that Princess Macy Beth couldn't attend. Puck wouldn't stop babbling about how he was such a fan of the Dark Rulers and that he was going to see them perform at the festival."

"Someone should have gagged that babbling sprite with a muzzle when they had the chance," Junk commented to Prince Marius.

"You see, old friend," the Sugar Plum Fairy told Fairy Godmother, "I was hoping to see the daughter of my late demon friend Svjetla. You know, Lady Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle."

Forks were dropped, some nearly choked their food, and Ben nearly coughed his drink all over Dårlig. "How refreshing," the latter said drily.

"I didn't know you were friends with a demon, Sugar Plum." Prince Marius said, interested by the topic.

"Believe you and me, I did, and let me just say that all demons are not as despicable as they seem: they're just wild horned spirits born to contribute in the balance of the universe, whether they are good or bad. Svjetla was one of those demons we fairies in the Fae Realm called 'nature demons'. She was one of the demons in charge of maintaining the balance of the seasons in her own ways and she was one of the rarest, graceful, and gentle ones I ever met. Why, she was the one who gave me the primrose flower that I used for my love potion!"

"And how did that turn out for you?" Carlos asked skeptically. "The Bog King had you imprisoned for life after he flunked when he used your potion."

"It's a long story," Jane quickly told to those who didn't understand while Sugar Plum went back to her original story.

"Sadly, as rare, graceful, and gentle she was, Svjetla was one of those young hopelessly naive and gullible demons," she said. "The last time I saw her, she told me that she had made a pact with a human sorcerer: for his part, he wanted a powerful child, and for her part, she demanded his loyal servitude in exchange for her 'precious' gift. I don't spend much time in the human realm, but I have seen that they can be fickle, most particularly when it comes to bargains with forces beyond them."

Prince Marius gave Ben a cold look, which made the young king wish that Sugar Plum hadn't spoken at all. Heck, it would have been best if she had been mute!

"And that sorcerer was indeed fickle as he was purely evil and emotionless! Svjetla's demon close ones and I were stunned that she easily fell for his false charms and horrified when we learned that that he was so evil even his blood was poisoned and easily managed to lead Svjetla to her final death!"

Kit gasped in horror as did some others did the same. "What of her daughter?" Prince Marius asked.

"Taken by the sorcerer, raised by basilisks, and forced into an abusive life of evil, I'm afraid." Sugar Plum shook her head in sadness. "I and many other fairies, as well as demons associated with Svjetla, have tried in vain to remove the child from her father's cruel custody or at least try to bless her with the protection of a fairy godmother, but Tom Riddle kept expelling us away from his domain like vermins or even kill us if we dared to approach his daughter with god intentions. We eventually gave up twenty years later, but it didn't stop me from keeping a lookout of the girl until I eventually had to return to my work in the Fae Realm and ended up locked away by the Bog King due to a little mishap."

"'Gave up twenty years later'?" Lonnie frowned. "Why did you stop?"

"Rules from my ancestors, Titania and Oberon," Prince Marius said stiffly as he drank from his cup of nectar. "A fairy is allowed to slave off as a 'godmother' to one of you humans' young ones until the latters turn twenty, which is considered the time of being adult and acting by yourself rather than crying like a baby and hoping that a fairy will do all the dirty work for you." He then glared at Ben. "Which does remind me, King Ben, my father has been receiving over the last twenty-one years numerous complaints from families in the Fae Realm that you banished some dark fairies and other Fae creatures into an island without granting them some consent. What's your response for that?"

"Well..." Ben began.

"They, along with the rest of the villains on the Isle Of The Lost, were punished for lifelong imprisonment for their crimes!" Chad Charming retorted rudely. "They only got what they deserve!"

"Chad, enough!" Ben said.

"Is that so?" Prince Marius was now getting angry. He clanged his cup on the table. "So you humans just decided that the Fae Realm and its court don't get a word for how our citizens behave in your country? Is this the gratitude we get for trying to contribute our services to your species? Treated as inferior things who don't get a say?"

"In Chad's defense, there have been some fairies who...reacted rather mixed depending on the reactions coming from the humans," Fairy Godmother tried to maintain the situation. "Some fairies like myself have been recognized for helping out the population and then there were those like Maleficent who shot curses due to being neglected..."

"You help out one human scullery maid, make her a princess, and rewards you with a bratty prince whose brain is as pathetic as his arrogance and Maleficent wouldn't have cursed a baby if some king and queen had bothered to invite her at their baby's christening in the first place!" He took a breath and calmly got up from the table. "I _was_ going to agree staying at the castle as a guest during our visit and attend one of your 'Pride Games' event tomorrow, but judging by the _charmless_ hospitality of some of your comrades, I believe I'll stick with camping in the woods and touring the local zoological gardens. Hopefully the _beasts_ there will be more civilized." Kit, Junk, and the Sugar Plum Fairy followed him and got up as well.

"Give Penelope my sincere regards," Sugar Plum told Fairy Godmother. The latter nodded solemnly. Meanwhile, the prince of the Fae Realm gave Dårlig an approving pat on the shoulder.

"You're a decent one," he told Dårlig. "Thank you for the considerate meal." He pulled out a small pouch and placed it in Dårlig's hands. "Good evening to all."

The doors creaked silently as they closed behind the group from the Fae Realm, who were now gone and left Ben and the others speechless.

"So," Dårlig tried to break the silence. "Would anyone like dessert?"


	8. Pride Games Decathlon

Chapter 8: Pride Games Decathlon

The auditorium at Auradon Prep was filling up with a mix of students, faculty, some family members who could make the trip, and the media who came to shoot the Pride Games decathlon on Monday morning. While the seats were filling, the twelve students competing stood on the stage. Each wore a gray uniform and ties matching their school colors and stood behind small tables covered by white cloths and accessorized with a white drawing board and boxes containing materials.

"What's with the media from Metro City?" Sean asked when he spotted a TV crew from Metro City being part of the present media. One of the reporters, a woman with a brown pixie haircut and a white dress, quickly went upstage with a bald blue-skinned man dressed in a business suit and spiked epaulettes that clashed with his formal attire, and gave a hug to Mina, who was one of the female contestants for St. Luther. "No way! Is that...Megamind?"

"Mina's dad himself and her mom, the reporter Roxanne Ritchi," Cassie confirmed. She blinked when a passing Pieuvrella took pictures. "They'd never miss their daughter at any special event, especially when it comes to mind-challenging competitions. Sure, Dusk and Genny are great intellectuals and so are Maja, Corbeau, and Cornelius, but Mina is highly competitive at challenges involving brainpower. She'll do anything to make her dad proud."

"Looks like this will be a heated competition."

"Haya! Macy! Kory! Xaos!" Lonnie happily hugged her friends when she saw that they came back from their tour. "I missed you guys!"

"Congrats on your reward!" Sean fist-bumped Xaos. "Although it was high time Sirenius caught up to you!"

"Yeah, turns out that Professor King wasn't kidding when he suggested to Sirenius that maybe singing solo was better than singing in a band for him," Xaos said as he sat next to Sean.

"We wanted to come back in time to cheer Manny for the decathlon," Macy said as she sat down next to Lonnie. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the evening dinner last night. How was it welcoming the prince of the Fae Realm?"

"Eh." Lonnie shrugged. "It went bad, then good, then finally back to bad. Despite what Ben and the others tried and thanks to Chad's rude mouth, Prince Marius thinks we humans are a bunch of self-centered jerks who disregard fairies as a minority group. So now he's camping in the woods and visiting the zoological gardens rather than staying at Ben's castle and watching the decathlon with all of us as a VIP."

Haya shook her head in exasperation. "I should have put permanent glue on his lips and shut him for good when I had the chance."

"Oh, and since Dårlig actually bothered to cook Fae Realm food as well as Auradonian food, Prince Marius gave him a pouch full of small gems, the currency in the Fae Realm. Now he had enough to make a set of jewelry for Feige..."

"I didn't know Penna was in the decathlon," Kory said. Her words drove their attention to the stage, where they saw Penna standing with the other contestants. She adjusted her tie and glanced nervously at the public before taking a canteen and drinking from it.

"Honestly, I'm surprised she didn't flunk after what happened with the mob last Saturday..." Cassie said.

"THERE WAS A MOB?" Haya exclaimed before groaning. "Ugh, why do I always miss the good stuff?"

A tapping noise was heard from a microphone, silencing the audience and making them give their attention to Mr. Barkin.

"I'd like to thank the public, especially those from St Luther Rose Academy since last Saturday's mob problem, for being cordial and silent as our contests compete for the second event of the Pride Games: the academic decathlon." Quiet, but positive clapping was heard from the crowd. "I'll be giving out the details of the competition today since our usual announcers, Charles Frollo and Leidi Du Wifi, are still recovering from the concussions they got during the mob problem."

"Seriously? Again, why do I miss these things?" Haya demanded silently while Mr. Barkin continued.

"The contestants must answer a series of twelve contestants quickly and as fast as they can. The contestants who answers the most correctly will win the trophy for their school! So, let's get going people!"

"Sean, let's pull out our betting cash!" Xaos and Sean began to pull out coins and dollar bills from their pockets, which made Kory roll her eyes. "I'm not refunding you this time."

"The first question will be a history question for which you'll have to write down the answers on the white board and hit the buzzer to let the judge, being me, come over and see what you have written," Mr. Barkin said. "Question 1: what were the thirteen chronological dynasties of the Imperial China? Answer...now!"

The contestants instantly got to their boards and began to write their answers as fast as they could and as best as they knew. It wasn't for long until two buzzers hit at the same time.

Martin Fiske and Corbeau Roth Logan had hit their buzzers at the same time.

"Oy." Lonnie pinched her nose in frustration. Mr. Barkin, for his part, walked over to each of the boys' boards and quickly shot glances at a piece of paper he was holding.

"Xia, Shang, Chou, Qin, Han, Six dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing," he declared. "Both candidates have answered correctly and with perfect timing, thus starting off the decathlon with a tie of 1 to 1!"

Small clapping was heard.

"The next question is a question of geography. There are 28 countries in the European Union and 19 of them use the euro. Name us the 9 countries who do not use the euro."

Mina instantly hit her buzzer. "Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom."

"Correct. 2 to 1 for St Luther!"

The clapping increased.

"The next question is a question of religion. We are talking about a Buddhist god who participated in Rama's war against Ravana the demon king and is represented as an incarnation of Shiva. Which god are we talking about?"

Martin hit his buzzer. "Hanuman."

"2 to 2."

"A child's play for the son of Monkey Fist," Kory chuckled.

"The next question is in mathematics. Describe to us Thales' theorem."

 _BUZZ._

"And so, if points A, B, and C are on the circle where the line AC is a diameter, then the ABC angle is a right angle." Dusk's precise response rose the points 3 to 2 for St Luther.

"For chemistry, demonstrate how to make sodium chloride."

Another buzz and Evie's demonstration led the score 3 to 3.

"Why isn't Penna answering a single question?" Cassie frowned. "Is she afraid to accidently stir another mob if she gets even one answer right?"

"That's weird." Lonnie looked with a pondering look at Penna, who didn't even lift a finger since the first question.

"The six question is a question about Pokemon. Eevee is a particular Pokemon because it can evolve into diverse forms depending on its habitat and whatever it comes in contact with. Name the eight known evolutionary forms of Eevee."

 _BUZZ_

"The known types of Eevee's evolved forms are Vaporeon for water, Jolteon for electricity, Flareon for fire, Espeon for psychic, Umbreon for dark, Glaceon for ice, Leafeon for grass, and Sylveon for fairy," Manny answered. The score was now 4 to 3.

"You go, Manny!" Macy cheered for her boyfriend.

"For linguistics, write down a sentence using only letters of the ancient Greek alphabet." Four buzzers led to four accurate answers and Martin, Manny, Mina, and Genny each got a point for their respective schools, making the score 6 to 5 with Auradon on the lead.

"Go team!" Haya cheered from the seats.

 _BUZZ._

"Due to its eruptions typically evolving explosive eruptions as well as pyroclastic flows, Mt. Vesuvius was classed as a complex stratovolcano until it was relocated in the Isle Of The Lost." Maja Jookiba, the son of Jumba Jookiba, led the score to a tie by answering the geology question.

"This is ridiculous!" Sean hissed. "Penna should know this since she lived in Mt. Vesuvius! Why isn't she answering?"

 _BUZZ._

"The Killing Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Imperius Curse are the three known Unforgivable curses." Evie answered the magic question correctly and led the score to 7-6. Somebody tapped Lonnie on the shoulder. She looked behind her and saw Meirong and Hu sitting behind her.

"What's going on, Shizi?" Meirong whispered. "How come Penna De Mort didn't even answer something that would be a piece of cake for her?"

"Maybe she hit her head and forgot her stuff?" Hu suggested.

"From 116 years of her life?" Haya rolled her eyes. "That better be a _lot_ of stuff to lose."

 _BUZZ._

"They say that unicorn horns have purifying powers that heal a man's injuries and virtues, which is why many medieval kings have claimed to possess it." Penna coughed unusually but managed to give a good answer to bring the score up 8 to 6.

"Oh, so that's why she didn't answer!" Hu said. "She had a cough!"

 _BUZZ._

"The order of the primate family goes as prosimians, monkeys, lesser apes, great apes, and humans!" Martin was getting excited as he scored the 9th score for Auradon Prep.

 _BUZZ._

"Fruits, Grains, Vegetables, Protein, and Dairy!" Mina answered the last question, the one of Health, correctly.

"And the decathlon's over!" Barkin said. "Ladies and gentlemen, Auradon Prep has won the academic decathlon with 9 correct answers out of twelve, and for answering the most questions, Martin Fiske will be the one receiving the Intelligence Trophy!"

The crowd could now finally go wild and students from Auradon Prep went nuts as Martin shook hands with Nick Fury and Friar Tuck, the U.N representatives who watched the decathlon, and they gave him the golden trophy decorated with owl carvings. Evie, Manny, Aaricia, and Doug (who didn't get a chance to answer because the others were to fast for him) jumped on him and shared a group hug, Dusk, Genny, Maja, and Cornelius went to give their sincere congratulations to the winner, Corbeau said nothing and quietly left the stage, and Mina was being comforted by her parents, who reassured her that there would always be a next time.

"OBJECTION!"

Somebody burst into the auditorium and marched down the rows of stairs and up on the stage: Charlotte Magali Dubois, the daughter of the Animal Control Captain Chantel Dubois from the Isle Of The Lost, who was now doing internships at the local police department for community service.

"This competition is invalid!" the redheaded, French accented girl spoke loudly to the public as she waved a rulebook in her hands. "According to page 300, Article 14, one of the competing schools cannot declare victory and must therefore surrender by default if not all of the contestants are present!" She then pointed at Penna, who was trying to sneak backstage, and tackled her down. "And this _cheating heathen_ has been using Polyjuice potion to pose as one of the contestants!" She punched Penna down, and before the security, Ben, Fairy Godmother, and Nick Fury could interfere, Penna's skin started to move like boiling bubbles and morphed into...

"Minuit?" Ben gasped. The daughter of Midnight Sparkle chuckled nervously in the uniform she was wearing. Charlotte let her get up but pulled out the canteen that the false Penna had been seen drinking earlier on.

"Sparkle here had been drinking Polyjuice Potion from this canteen in order to pose as Penna during the decathlon." Charlotte passed the canteen to the officials, who recognized the horrible stench of the potion in it. "After seeing that 'Penna' didn't answer to any question that even the real one would have answered except for the one question that I knew Minuit couldn't resist giving the right answer, I quickly went to the bathroom where I could have sworn that I saw Minuit and Penna go to an hour before the decathlon even started and I smelled the stench of a Polyjuice potion meant for one drinker that was prepared precisely an hour before the decathlon started!"

"Just so I understand, why are you ratting on your own school?" Cornelius Denada Cortés asked.

"I'm interning to be a cop. What do you think?"

"Alright, what's going on?" Nick Fury marched towards Minuit. "Where's De Mort? We specifically told her that she was required to participate in the decathlon!"

"Minuit, where's Penna?" F.G asked more gently to Minuit, who looked menaced from the pressure.

"I'm really sorry," Minuit said guilty, "I swear on the River Styx that we didn't mean to ruin everything, Headmistress, but Penna was getting more mortified by the idea of facing off St Luther after Saturday's mob and worrying that it would happen again if she helped Auradon Prep win the decathlon, so I prepared a Polyjuice potion to pose as her in order to try easing down the reformees while she left."

"She _left_?" Ben exclaimed.

"Just to clear her mind."

"She dared to pass out the event when the U.N made it clear that she was supposed to attend!" Nick Fury exclaimed bitterly. "And thanks to your trick, Auradon Prep is revoked of its first place prize, which is now gone to Mina Mind of St Luther Rose Academy!" He yanked the trophy from the hands of a stunned Martin and handed it gruffly to Mina. Then, to the shock of everyone, she threw it at the floor and smashed it to bits.

"Mina, have you lost it?" Genny exclaimed.

"I don't want to win because of default!" Mina snapped, tears coming to her eyes. "I only want to win if my intellect actually deserved it through hard effort, not because somebody gives up and hands it to me on a silver platter!" She turned to face Fury and the rest of her classmates in the audience. "And I blame all of you for starting all of this! Penna's going through a lot! She went through abuse, rejection, brainwashing, agonizing medication, and lack of confidence, and the only things you were able to do were complain about how awful she made your lives in the past and decide to throw bottles at her window and put her in a coma! YOU ALL MAKE ME SICK!" Mina marched her way out of the auditorium followed by her parents trying to catch up after her.

"Minuit," Ben asked, "where did Penna go?"


	9. An Unexpected, But Pleasant Encounter

Chapter 9: An Unexpected, But Pleasant Encounter

As Charlotte Magali Dubois had concluded, Penna De Mort had left Auradon Prep with Minuit posing as her during the decathlon in order to clear her mind off in the woods. By the time they all discovered the ruse, she was miles away from the campus and not too far from the area where the Enchanted Lake stood in its clearing.

"I can't do this, Naga!" Penna exclaimed to her precious pet snake Naga as she and the former walked (or in Naga's case, slither) on the small trail that was created for travelers to use as a passage in the woods. "It's already hard recovering from..." A small branch cracking noise was heard, startling them. Penna froze, fearing that it was another mob of angry reformees, until she saw that it was just a doe making a stop to chew on some grass.

' _A worthless, insignificant vermin blocking your path_ ,' a voice taunted her at the back of her head. _'Kill it with your bare hands. I could use a little exercise_.'

"No! Get out of my head!" Penna grabbed her hair and nearly ripped them off in agony as her sight blurred.

' _What, you think that they'll give you a medal for not killing Bambi here?_ ' The old Penna in a black mamba scale dress mocked her and pointed at the doe. _'Let's face it. You don't belong with these weaklings, whether they like you or not. You'll always be a slave to your own evil!'_

"I said **GET OUT OF MY HEAD**! **OW!** " Penna screamed, especially when Naga smacked her on the cheek with her tail. Thankfully for Penna, the strike of her snake made the hallucination go away.

"Thanks, Naga..." Her legs eventually let her drop on the soil-covered trail. "My past evil self haunting me, the healers' attempts to extract my Kraken Needles are agonizing, the reformees want to kill me, and the U.N doesn't care at all if I get trampled by a mob or not!" Penna sighed in defeat until she heard the distant sound of water. "Maybe I can finally put an end to it once and for all, crushed Horcruxes or not."

A confused Naga looked at her master looking around until she found a long, sturdy vine and a boulder the size of a backpack, tied the vine around the boulder, and dragged it with her all the way up the trail until they reached a rope bridge that went above the ravine where the river coming from the Enchanted Lake made its way out towards the sea. To the snake's horror, Penna was not making her way towards the bridge but towards the tip of the cliff, where she tied the spare end of the vine around her right ankle. Enraged, Naga smacked Penna once again and hissed at her in Parseltongue what in Slytherin's name did she think she was trying to do.

"I can't swim and I can't use magic, so I'll let myself get killed," Penna managed to finish tightening the vine on her ankle. "Let's face it: no one's going to miss me when I die!"

Naga hit her again and hissed in Parseltongue once more. "Feige, Dårlig, Minuit, and Jessie have new friends who actually care for them! They deserve better than I do! What I'm doing now is best for them!"

Naga hissed again. "Voldemort nearly killed you, Naga, and I couldn't do anything the same way I was unable to save Bloodyle when he killed her!" Recalling her foster sibling made her lose track of the vine getting accidently cut by the rock and the rock accidently causing Penna to trip and fall down head first into the river. Worried for her master, Naga unleashed a scream so loud it attracted the attention of someone.

Thanks to Voldemort menacing her with drowning in her own bath if she didn't turn a bunch of children into leeches, Penna had never put a foot in a swimming pool, which did not help her as she tried in vain to avoid drowning in the river's current as it dragged her towards an approaching wall of rapids. She felt her leg get hit and pain ripping on her skin and saw her own black blood staining the river's natural pure color. A whimpering cry escaped from her mouth trying to breathe while she struggled to get away from the rapids. Wouldn't she give anything for never being the daughter of Voldemort, for having a normal family with Bloodyle and the rest of the basilisks if they were all still alive, for getting another Mother's Day card from Jessie every single year despite the fact that Penna only took Jessie under her wing, and to not have killed Mandire Sullivan, which would have spared her from a life of unforgivable evil and blessed her with a happily ever after fairytale ending well-deserved and spent with the man of her dreams.

"I got you!" Some flying individual caught her in his arms and brought her back safely to shore all soaking wet. Naga and two teenagers, who seemed to be fraternal twins, were waiting for them.

"Junk, help me out with her leg," her savior told them. "Kit, go get her some clean clothes and nectar juice!"

"Aye, sir!" Kit, the female of the fraternal twins, quickly ran off God knows where. Penna's savior helped her rest her head on a boulder like on a pillow while Naga rushed to lick her master as a way to show how concerned she was and Junk proceeded to crush some oak leaves and daisies together.

"The sick devil himself would have to be nuts enough to jump off a cliff with a rock attached to her ankle!" Junk muttered.

"Are you alright?"

Penna blinked as she tried to clear up her vision, which eventually helped her see her savior, a seventeen-year-old boy who looked more fae than human with his exoskeleton, his plant-like uniform, and his dragonfly wings that shone in the sunlight. He looked back at her with a mix of genuine concern and fascination that only she could see in his hazel eyes.

"I guess I am," she coughed while Naga rubbed her head under Penna's cheek affectionately.

"We heard a scream and found your...pet," the boy said, "and when we saw it hissing hysterically at the river, we saw you drowning and came to rescue you. And judging by the odd ankle accessory, we can assume you attempted suicide."

"I...did." Penna lowered her head in guilt. For all she knew, they'd probably go blab to Ben and Fairy Godmother that they found her trying to commit a hopeless suicide. Junk passed a small bowl to the winged boy and Penna noticed the dirty grey mixture in it.

"This might sting _just_ a bit..." He grimaced as he dipped three fingers in the bowl and gently tapped them on Penna's wound, making her scream loud enough to scare off a flock of birds right when Kit came back with some clothes and a bottle. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed.

"That would be me!" Penna snapped. She continued to scream as more lotion was being tapped on her leg until they assumed it was enough to cover the wound and wrapped a white bandage around it. Penna sighed when she felt the lotion slow down on the stinging and soften on her skin after being wrapped by the bandage.

"Avoid extreme activities for the next couple weeks and it will be as if your wound never existed," the winged boy said.

"Thanks," Penna sighed. She looked up and saw that he and Junk were pulling out scarves made of large leaves and placing them over their eyes like blindfolds. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"They're giving us some privacy." Kit handed her the dry clothes. Penna's eyes widened at their expectation.

"You...I can't accept this!" Penna tried to decline. "You already shouldn't have cured me!"

"Well either you get changed and it will be as if none of this ever happened, or you can go back home and come up with a good explanation on why you have both an injured leg and a cold," the winged one said sarcastically. Seeing that the was right, she accepted the dry clothes and began to change."

"So you know my reasons for being in the middle of the woods," she said as she put aside her wet clothes and proceeded to put on her new dry ones. "And what of you three?"

"We're just part of a group of tourists coming from another world," the winged boy said. "The monarchs of our country wanted us to go see what Auradon was like in person before it is decided to begin a trading alliance between the two countries."

"A business trip?" Penna frowned when she saw her new clothes getting affected by her aura and looked nervously at Kit, who just gave a casual shrug. "But then why didn't the monarchs come themselves?"

"The rulers have people to take care off and they at least bother to hear what the people have to say!" His haughty reply almost distracted Kit as she tried to braid Penna's long hair until he eventually calmed down. "I'm sorry. This is a highly immature reaction of mine."

"Our group of tourists were supposed to be joined by our kingdom's prince in person, but the Auradonian hosts offended him with rather discriminatory comments that he chose to return back home, leaving us with the responsibility of bringing our own feedback from our tourism so that he and his parents can determine whether or not it's worth bothering an alliance," Junk said. "But hey, good part is that he's letting us use his royal privileges accesses while we're here, from his guard, to his carriages, to trunks full of jewelry, attending servants, and you know it!"

"He's...definetly different from King Ben," Penna said, rather stunned.

"And done!" Kit declared. "You may remove your blindfolds, gentlemen!" They did so and made Penna feel awkward as they saw her in better clothing. Thanks to her annoying paternal, Penna's body had the tendency of burning other clothes and turning them into dark-colored, snake-themed attire that would match her personality and forcefully expose her back's mark of villainy. But this time, Fate was less cruel to her. With her now united halves, she managed to not accidently destroy the clothes into queenly clothes but perfect them in a teal flutter sleeved shirt with patterns of smooth scales, an asymmetrical dark blue skirt with the edges designed like slithering snakes that curled up a bit to resemble upside down petals, glittery teal tights, and black high-heeled boots. Kit had braided Penna's hair into waterfall braid that made her hair cascade down her waist modestly, but still cutely. Much to Penna's surprise, the shirt and her hair actually managed to hide her gruesome mark of villainy.

"W point O point W. Wow!" Junk said. "If I didn't know we were in the land of jerks, I would have thought that Auradon had good tastes!"

"Junk, watch your manners!" Kit slapped her twin on the back of the head. As these two bickered, Penna was left with the winged teen.

"I look...different," she admitted with a blush. "Is different good?"

He just stared at her in amazement. "Better than good." His compliment made her blush and him grin. "How rude of me. I never asked your name."

Penna stiffened. How on earth could she possibly tell her name? For the first time ever, she felt like she was genuinely being treated like a friend without the entire 'daughter of Voldemort' plaguing her every move. "If I told you, you probably wouldn't treat me as nicely as you are doing right now..." She told him sadly.

"I'm sorry." He sounded genuinely concerned. "Are you being...mistreated by others?"

"No, nothing of the sort! It's just...it's hard for others to genuinely trust you and appropriately behave towards you after all the bad things you did that deeply affected them." She looked down at the ground she was standing on. "Maybe if I hadn't done so many mistakes in the past, I wouldn't feel so secluded. The fault's all mine." A gentle hand raised her chin, making her look at his hazel eyes, such radiant brown-colored gems.

"You're very honest with yourself, I'll give you that." He smiled at her. "Here's a deal. I won't tell you who I really am nor will you tell me about your names, but if we end up becoming mutually trustworthy friends by the next full moon, we will share. Agreed?" He held out his hand, expecting Penna to shake it, which made her nervous about the possibility that they _do_ become friends but he ended up rejecting their new friendship once he found out who her father was. Nevertheless, she shook hands with him. "Agreed."

"Very well then, fair lady." Much to Penna's shock, he brought up her hand and kissed it in a gentlemanly fashion, making her turn her head and fail to hide her blushing cheeks with her spare hand. After all, she was never used to being treated as such from a person of the opposite gender. He smiled when he saw her blush. "You know your eyes sparkle like your snake's scales quite cutely when you blush?" Then it seemed like an idea hit him. "Maybe I should nickname you 'Viper Eyes' for now until we finally become friends."

Naga hissed at him, making him frown at the snake. "Did I insult it?" he asked Penna as Naga tried to bite Junk after his attempt to pet her. The snake then hissed something in Parseltongue.

"Nah, she just doesn't like being touched by strangers." She knelt down and let Naga slither towards. The snake rested its head on Penna's knees as the latter stroke the snake's head.

"Unbelievable," Kit said in amazement. "Snakes are _huge_ in our kingdom, we could easily walk in their mouths, but this one is almost the size of a worm!" Kit backed away when Naga began to send an aggressive hiss until the winged boy physically challenged Naga into a staring contest.

"That's it," Penna said quietly as the snake and the winged humanoid kept staring at one another solemnly. "Keep staring at her. If you stare at her with complete focus on her eyes, she'll know if you mean any harm to her..." The staring contest continued and he began to dare holding out his hand cautiously to the snake without breaking any eye contact. Naga let out her sensible tongue at his palm, checking every inch as if she were making sure that he washed his hands, until she finally closed her eyes and nuzzled her head in his hand like a puppy. "Aw, Naga likes you!" Penna said. The twins chuckled as they watched their friend chuckling from the licking Naga was giving him on the cheeks. Finally, Naga hissed something in Parseltongue, making Penna frown. "No, Naga! He's _not_ a keeper! He's just a new friend!" Naga hissed something else, making Penna blush in embarrassment and pull the snake away from the boy. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm not his type!"

"Oy, now it's like my grandmother..." the winged boy mumbled as he got up. A nearby noise of a horse-drawn carriage was heard from above the cliff, making him tense. His eyes brightened and turned back to Penna. "You know, our group of tourists is actually heading for a trip to the zoological gardens. I know we only just met, but...would you care to join us?"

"I would," Penna admitted, "but pets aren't allowed in the zoological gardens and I can't just leave Naga. She's also venomous, you know?"

"We have some beast caterers at the place we camp at," Junk said. "I could watch over the snake while you go with...sir here."

"Yes, the last time I trusted you to pet-sit my own pet, you nearly let Bruno eat it _by accident_ ," the winged boy said coldly. "Just call one of the caterers to meet us by the carriage and tell him that I need him to watch over a valued snake while we're off on our tour. Kit, go with him to make sure that he doesn't mess things up...again."

"Aye, Captain!" Kit pushed Junk and the two twins started to run their way up a series of steps that led up a cliff while Penna and the winged boy walked up normally, with Naga slithering by Penna's feet. "So since I gave you a nickname, what will you give me?" he asked her.

"Bug Fly," she said. "You look like a bug and you fly. You gave me a cute nickname, so I'm giving you a cute one as well."

"That's cold," he said, making her chuckle. They reached the top of the cliff, where a carriage drawn by grey horses and watched by two fairy guards waited for them. "Well, what do you know? The royal carriage came to pick us up!"

"Your kingdom's royalty even grants royal transportation to mere tourists?" Penna gasped. "To think we have to pay just to get a limousine for prom! Then again...I never go to prom. You people have such benevolent rulers!"

The guards opened the door. Kit and Junk came back with a small, brown skinned elf woman. "Prune is available to take care of the snake, sir," Kit said.

"Excellent." Bug Fly guided Naga to Prune. "Make straight eye contact with her before making friends." The elf woman nodded and Bug Fly waved a hand at the carriage. "Ladies first."

"Wow. Aren't you the gentleman today, sir!" Kit led Penna inside the carriage, unaware that Bug Fly pulled Junk aside and talked to him quietly.

"Spread it around camp and any Auradonian citizen passing by as soon as you get out: nobody must treat us as we are whenever she's around," he said. "Until we truly make a mutual friendship, she must not know that I'm actually the prince."

"What should I tell the Sugar Plum Fairy then, your Highness?" Junk asked. "She went to visit the Fairy Godmother at the lame king's school to see if she could talk about something a few minutes ago. What do you expect me to tell her about your new friend if she asks?" He raised his tone to a suggestive one when he said 'friend'.

"Tell her that if she doesn't cooperate, then by Oberon's horns and my father's staff, one of my first actions as king will be to cut her tongue permanently!"

 _Meanwhile, at Fairy Godmother's office in Auradon Prep_

"What do you mean, you're 'in debt'?" Fairy Godmother exclaimed.

Barely an hour after the fiasco of the Pride Games decathlon and the students going back to the class all emotionally frazzled and their parents, the media, and the frustrated U.N officials going back home, Fairy Godmother got an unexpected visit from the Sugar Plum Fairy telling her that the latter was _in debt_. Being _in debt_ is a serious issue in the Fae Realm, especially when it concerns fairies tasked to do certain errands in other worlds. If a fairy is unable to achieve a specific errand or task by the time a deadline came, they had to do a special service for the deities Oberon and Titania in exchange for not getting their gifted powers stripped forever.

"I never told this to anyone, my old friend, not even the Bog King and the Fairy Queen," Sugar Plum confessed as they talked alone in Fairy Godmother's office, "but Titania and Oberon have placed me in an ultimatum with a deadline approaching very quickly."

"When is it?"

"The day of Prince Marius Bogfae's coronation. You remember when I said last night that me and many other fairies have tried to free Penna De Mort from her father's clutches and we failed?"

"Yes."

"Well," Sugar Plum sighed, "Titania and Oberon were enraged that we were unable to collect the child and bring her back to the Fae Realm, where not even her father's dark, loveless magic could penetrate the portal, and she would have been protected for eternity from the cruel life she is now living in. But because we failed, the gods didn't just strip off my comrades of their magic...They were turned into bugs that ended up mashed and served as Titania's insect pudding!"

She and Fairy Godmother shivered. Being turned into insect pudding and eaten by Titania and Oberon in order to live a life digested and unable to reincarnate into a new fairy life was the worst fate that any fairy could imagine. Not even reviving a villain and locking him up in the Isle of The Lost could compete with that. "So I begged the Powerful Ones to spare me with a second chance to redeem myself and not end up in insect pudding...and they said yes, but in exchange, when the time was right, I have to bring Penelope to the Fae Realm."

"Even though she's past twenty and no longer applicable for godmother protection?" Fairy Godmother poured some hot chamomile tea into two cups and handed one to Sugar Plum. "Why?"

"Well...you know how deities are, always competing for domains and all..." The latter chuckled nervously until the former's serious look made her go straight to the topic. "Before our home world had its two original kingdoms, the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest, it was just a flourishing young land that our gods and another god, the nature demon king Calcifer, and when their competing natures threatened to destroy our world, they sat down and made a deal: Titania and Oberon could rule the world and create their own creatures to rule over, but in exchange they had to create beasts to live in the area destroyed by the conflict. The place we knew back then as the Dark Forest..."

"I hate interrupting, Sugar Plum, but how does it relate to Penna?"

"I'm getting there, sheesh! But as well as making gruesome goblins live in the Dark Forest, Titania and Oberon also had to agree to another condition. You see, Calcifer also had foreshadowing powers, and he predicted that one Titania and Oberon's fairy descendants, our current queen Marianne herself, would spouse with a goblin, our current Bog King Lysandre, and give birth to a child who must marry a descendant of Calcifer around the time the Villains Comet was destroyed. And...it so happens that Svjetla, Penelope's late mother, was Calcifer's descendant."

Fairy Godmother choked the tea out of her mouth in shock. "You...you don't mean...Sugar Plum, you're not telling me that Oberon and Titania...expect Auradon to hand over Penna to the Fae Realm and make her marry the Prince?"

"What choice do we all have? This was a marriage arranged by gods, and even I can't do that! I mean, I have to admit that I didn't even think the possibility of the marriage being authentic, but I eventually had to start worrying about my debt when our monarchs married and expected their infant to come. So I made a lie about a prophecy of the Fae Realm and the human world opening up when a comet exploded, and I didn't think that in a million years the comet would explode until I felt the energy vibrations a few months ago!"

"By Oberon's horns," Fairy Godmother mumbled and paced around her office. "It's barely the beginning of the Pride Games and I have to deal with two schools dealing with personal family issues, we have Prince Marius who already disdains Auradon and could send us to ruins, Penna's already going through the trouble of proving to everyone and herself that she's changed despite her father's cruel tutelage, and now you break the bomb on to me that we have to make Penna and Prince Marius marry one another unless we want to throw all life down in ruins by the time the prince becomes the next king! Thanks to his arrogant, tough nature and some of the descendants' insane problems, he already rejected visiting Auradon Prep during the decathlon, and thanks to the antihero offspring bitter about her actions and throwing a mob last Saturday, Penna ran off for some quiet time and cost Auradon Prep its victory at the decathlon and the U.N didn't want to hear a thing!" She sighed. "Fortunately, one of the St Luther competitors was understanding and her teammates also agreed to reject the prize, leaving the schools into another tie..."

"And besides," Sugar Plum suggested, "if we're lucky enough, Penelope and Prince Marius might be crazy enough to befriend one another and fall in love naturally..."

"Love naturally..." Fairy Godmother snapped her fingers as she got an idea. "Sugar Plum, you will soon learn how Cinderella got her happy ending."

 _Later on, at Auradon's Zoological Gardens_

The Zoological Gardens were one of those tourist attractions that you would certainly expect to find in a tourist guide. If you read it, you would have learned that it was actually established by the former queen Belle to give the people of Auradon a sense of how the fauna was truly beautiful no matter the species were, from normal animals to the mythological, from the powerless to the powerful. So if you ever actually get to go to the Zoological Gardens, don't be so surprised if you find yourself looking at a Hungarian Horntail or Chinese Fireball dragon in the Reptile House or a few unicorns with the other farm animals at the petting zoo and so on.

"You idiot, we're supposed to be spending our money on necessary items, not souvenirs!" Kit hissed at Junk, who was looking through the shelves of souvenir snow globes in the place's gift shop.

"It is necessary!" Junk insisted, making his sister groan even more. "I'm buying things to record our trip here!" Meanwhile, while the twins were busy bickering at the souvenir shop, Penna and Bug Fly were waiting for them at the café, enjoying some lemon drizzle cake and jasmine tea while eating at the café's outdoor parlor. The guards who escorted them were positioned throughout the area, making themselves unnoticed by others and lying low like serious FBI agents.

"This pastry is quite a delicacy!" Bug Fly commented as he ate his slice. "They remind me of the nectar pies my mother occasionally made whenever we went on family camping trips and I'd go frog hunting with my father."

"Ooh, I love frogs!" Penna geeked. "Especially when they are served boiled or if the legs have been chopped off and roasted!"

"Then you would have _loved_ frog hunting. Naturally, it's only done for consumption and can be quite dangerous since these amphibians back home are almost as big as the buildings here, but many folks enjoy hunting them for the experience it gives."

"And were those experiences good for you?" Penna drank her tea.

"Quite. My parents own this summerhouse in a marsh area and it was a place that was passed down as a wedding gift to all those in my father's family and they enjoyed spending their honeymoon and anniversaries there. By the time I was eight, my father started introducing me to frog hunting: we'd wake up an hour or two before sunrise and set ourselves in positions where we'd wait for a frog to come by -these creatures have a thing for croaking at the sunrise by marshes- and catch its arms and legs with lassos. While my father harnessed the beast with the lassos binding the front legs, I'd fly as far as I could until I could tie the loose ends of the hind legs' lassos to a branch and my father would do a similar thing for the front. Thus, we'd trap the beast and figure out two ways to kill it: let it suffocate from trying to inhale thanks to its suffocating stretching or stab it right away. Usually we'd go with the second option."

"Interesting, the hunting techniques you apply seem no different than the way snakes suffocate preys through constriction before constriction. So then what happened after you killed the frog?"

"We'd dissect it and preserve the edible organs. Sometimes we'd skin the frogs as well since frog-skin are commonly used as thick material to make jackets, boots, and other accessories. So we'd bring back the game to the summerhouse and roast it with herbal seasoning at our outdoor grill and enjoy it with a cup of hot honey tea and slices of my mother's nectar pies." He sighed in joy. "It's wonderful pass-time as a family."

"It sounds wonderful." Penna felt herself getting jealous.

"Well I'm sure you and your parents have great family times toge...Is something wrong?" Bug Fly stopped himself when he saw that Penna looked rather distraught. She stopped eating her cake and drinking her tea as if she had tasted something sour in them. Her head rested on her hands and her mouth released a sad sigh.

"I never did anything joyful with my parents..." She admitted. "My mother died before I even knew her and my father...He knew nothing about loving anyone, and since I wasn't born with mutual parental loved..." She looked away. "And because of that...I'm uncomfortable when passing by any sort of public affection, whether it's family, friends...or romance..." Her body felt misery as Penna recalled the last time she fell in love.

"I'm sorry," Bug Fly said genuinely. He gently took her hand in his for comfort, making Penna look at him in surprise. "I wasn't aware..."

"It's not your doing," Penna said reassuringly.

"Nor yours either," he returned the feeling.

They smiled at one another, making Penna feel like something warm was growing inside of her whenever she looked into those rich pools of hazel waves...Until all of a sudden, the zoological gardens' clocktower indicated that it was four in the afternoon, making Penna realize that she had managed to miss an entire day of school.

"Good Lord!" She got off her chair in a hurry. "I'm so sorry, but I have to get back! They'll be worried!"

"We'll take you back with the carriage..." Bug Fly said as he got up.

"No, don't shorten your trip because of me!" Although honestly, Penna didn't want him dropping her off at Auradon Prep and accidently learning her identity due to their deal. "I can make it back on foot and Naga knows her way around the woods, so you can just let her go. But thank you very much for letting me come along..."

"Wait!" Bug Fly caught her hand before she could run off. "What should I do when I want to see you again? Or if _you_ want to see me again?"

Penna tensed. Her mind was getting into a turmoil of emotions: a part of her telling her to go for it and see this young man again, but an old familiar voice tried to hammer into her head that love was weakness.

"Naga likes to go hunting by herself at the temple area of the Enchanted Lake twice a week," Penna said. "If you want to see me again, find her there in three days around noon and give her a note to swallow. She'll bring it back to me and I'll know then."

"Perfect! Our group's camping area so happens to be by the Enchanted Lake! I'll be seeing you soon then, Viper Eyes!"

"Good!"

He let her go and watched as she dodged the crowds in order to run as fast as she could away from the Zoological Gardens and back to wherever she came from.

This was only the beginning of their unexpected, but pleasant encounter.


	10. Tensions vs Relations

Chapter 10: Tensions vs Relations

Three days had passed in Auradon Prep and it felt like things were getting rough between the two schools ever since the decathlon. While each of them were relieved that their competitor lost, they also didn't like the fact that none of them won, and the two people they could thank were Penna for running off and Mina for smashing the trophy. Naturally, numerous students were pissed at the two, so they were used to getting nasty remarks for the last three days, which resulted with Mina and Penna spending time together until eventually, Lonnie took pity and joined them for breakfast. Mina was in the middle of converting her tray into a drone while Penna was reading a couple library books.

"You want to try some grenadine?" Lonnie pulled out a red bottle of the pomegranate juice from her backpack and started filling her cup with it. "I ran into Principal Melchior and he was trying to offer grenadine bottles to everyone as a way to settle things down since the decathlon. Want some?"

"Sorry, Lonnie, but I'm highly-intolerant to ellagic acids." Mina began to use her remote to make her makeshift drone hover over the table. "Eureka! At least now I found a way to occupy myself for Barkin's next detention session!"

"Penna? Want some? Penna?"

Penna completely did not hear Lonnie speak, for she was absorbed into reading one of the books she got from the school library. It had to take Mina snatching the book out of her hands to make her snap back to reality. "Hey!"

"'Understanding And Achieving Opposite Gender Reactions?'" Mina read the title, followed by the book's resume she paraphrased based on the pages she flipped through. "A book talking about why men and women interact this or that way and how do you handle it."

"Penna, I thought Minuit said you hated reading books about romance!" Lonnie told Penna in concern.

"What, I can't try reading new things?" Penna asked. The deadpan look Mina and Lonnie gave made it clear that they didn't buy it, which made Penna sigh as Mina gave her back the book. "Look, maybe I just wanted to understand these things a little better because, well... let's just say that I recently made a new friend who's...of the opposite gender..."

" _Ooh la la!_ " Mina pushed aside her drone creation and leaned over to hear best. "Somebody's found herself a man!"

"It's not a man, it's a new friend!" Penna defended herself when she saw Lonnie and Mina giving her suggestive looks. "For starters, don't forget I don't know how to love romantically, and for finishers, he's amazingly nice and doesn't know I'm the daughter of the worst dad ever!" She sighed and let her eyes wander off into daydreaming zone. "He does have amazing brown eyes..."

"Wake up for a moment!" Mina snapped her fingers in front of Penna's nose to make her snap back to reality. "Trying to hide your identity while getting to know a guy is a _bad_ idea! An effective idea, but still bad!"

"I'm not sure I follow," Lonnie said as she drank her grenadine.

"My dad used to disguise himself as a human librarian once to distract my mom from discovering his evil plans back when he was still the **evil, mega supervillain genius MEGAMIND**!" Mina raised her voice to Drama Land when referring to her dad during her 'calm explanation'. "The only problem was that _he_ ended up being the one distracted, which led to him falling for my mom, considering giving up evil and briefly turning back to evil because Mom went all 'Did you seriously think I could love you' when she unmasked him, leading to an epic battle against a made hero turned villain, which ended up making Dad the new star of Metro City and him Mom's husband and my dad!" Mina took a long breath. "Take some personal advice: watch out for how friendly he gets towards you."

"I'll try." Penna closed her book and put it in her backpack. "It's just...I honestly don't really feel in piece ever since the Pride Games started, from the mob of angry reformees to the hallucinations of evil me..."

"She's back?" Lonnie looked worried.

"No! It's more like... _She_ 's trying to rebel against me when I'm good. Before I ran into my...new friend, I saw a manifestation of her trying to goad me into willingly killing a doe, which would only remind of how my first willing kill sealed my evil career...and my broken heart."

"Well, Artemis _did_ say that your good and bad halves would be clashing for full control." Lonnie patted her on the back.

"Aside from the entire Jekyll is good and Hyde is bad, are your good and bad halves really that different?" Mina asked out of curiosity. "Like the villain Tighten my dad accidently created when he needed a new superhero, he was rather lame and awkward as a good normal cameraman, but he was a complete psychopath when he became evil."

"Yes, but surprisingly, it's bad Penna who had more characteristics than the 'good Penna'," Penna said. "The bad Penna was really calculative and cunning, cold but elegant, and quite a show-off. She spent decades twisting the fates of villains and heroes so that she could have villains trapped in the Isle by the time the comet came. She made it very clear to Voldemort that she hated being his daughter and had the inferiors punished if they dared to disobey her.

"But good Penna, on the other hand, is...more...What's the word?"

"Wimpy?" Mina offered. "I mean, you kinda make it clear that being around people that you could accidently hurt freaks you out, you don't go to social events, and you had Minuit pose as you during the decathlon."

"And good Penna doesn't really like Minuit and Jessie," Penna said grimly. "Mostly because it was evil Penna who raised them and because good Penna was more comfortable with her late foster basilisk siblings. Good Penna keeps saying that I should brush them off, but I don't want to. I raised them to the point where I saw them as my own flesh and blood!" She laid her head on the table and cried. "And those are the emotions that bad Penna had for seventeen years!"

Mina petted Penna on the back of the head. "You know, you're not the best competitor in the Pride Games, but I bet you're the best parent Minuit and Jessie could ever ask for!"

Little did they know, Minuit and Jessie overheard that part while exiting the bathroom.

 _Later on at the tourney field bleachers_

Sirenius Dazzle nearly fell off his seat when he heard Dusk Shimmer greeting him in person.

"By the way, congratulations on being voted the top musician in Auradon!" Dusk said sincerely. "I'm sure you made Louie King very proud!"

"Y...Yeah, t...that...s...sure!" Sirenius stammered while his purple eyes were fixed on Dusk's in an infatuated fashion. Clearly, this was the first time the son of Adagio Dazzle met the daughter of Sunset Shimmer in person, and he found himself getting the stomach butterflies instantly.

"Let me guess, you're not used to talking to girls?" Dusk asked sensibly as she sat down next to him.

"Pretty much," he groaned in defeat. "My mother told me that words should be used to hypnotize people to do your bidding, so I'm not used to talking a lot unless it comes to music..."

"Well, I _do_ happen to play the guitar." She showed him the blue guitar case she had with her and pulled out an acoustic guitar painted with fiery colors and a glittery unicorn head design. "You wanna try introducing yourself through music?"

Sirenius stared at Dusk in amazement before accepting. He gently held the guitar, adjusted the strings, and started to sing.

Sirenius: _I'm not used to talking, it's true,_

 _But I would if it's in a musical tune._

 _You might not know this tiny fact,_

 _I happen to be a fan of art that's abstract._

 _I like reading comedies of Molière_

 _And works of the guy Voltaire._

 _I sure do know how to play from music to kitchen instruments,_

 _Even if I occasionally break the dishes_

 _And end up upsetting my parent._

 _If you wanna know, here it goes._

 _Gonna tell you there's a part of me that shows,_

 _If we're close, gonna let you see everything,_

 _But remember that you asked for it._

 _I'll try to do my best to impress,_

 _But it's easier to let you take a guess, at the rest,_

 _But you wanna hear what lives in my brain, my heart,_

 _Well, you asked for it_

 _For your perusing,_

 _At times confusing,_

 _Slightly amusing..._

 _Introducing me!_

 _Do do do do do do do,_

 _Do do do do do do do._

 _La da da da,_

 _La da da da da da da, da._

So impressed by his singing, Dusk joined in herself.

Dusk: _I have a pet phoenix named Cesarette,_

 _And I dislike using a cigarette,_

 _Because I like to see the sky shine so blue._

 _I prefer to wear dark pink if it matches my favorite fruit punch's hue._

 _The best flavor for me is vanilla,_

 _And the best flower is a gladiola._

 _For breakfast, I eat cereals made of granola ._

Sirenius: _I like how your smile shines_

 _Brighter than diamonds in a mine_

Dusk and Sirenius: _If you wanna know, here it goes._

 _Gonna tell you there's a part of me that shows,_

 _If we're close, gonna let you see everything,_

 _But remember that you asked for it._

 _I'll try to do my best to impress,_

 _But it's easier to let you take a guess, at the rest,_

 _But you wanna hear what lives in my brain, my heart,_

 _Well, you asked for it_

 _For your perusing,_

 _At times confusing,_

 _Slightly amusing..._

 _Introducing me!_

 _Do do do do do do do,_

 _Do do do do do do do._

 _Do do do do..._

 _Introducing me!_

"You really are amazing!" Dusk said, making Sirenius blush.

"Thanks. Maybe...we could meet up for music rehearsing? Like...tomorrow afternoon?" He asked nervously, desperately hoping to hear an approval.

"Actually, tomorrow afternoon's the karaoke club and we're holding our meetings at the Sebastian Groove Bar while we're here for the Pride Games," Dusk said. "Maybe you've heard of the place?"

"Are you kidding, the Sebastian Groove Bar is one of the best hangout places outside of campus!" Sirenius exclaimed in glee. "Average prices but good-quality seafood and fruit smoothies worthy of kings! And the karaoke stage is the main attraction! The Dark Rulers, the rest of my siren and music-loving pals and I enjoy going there whenever they offer special prize-winning karaoke contests!" He paused in his glee and blushed at Dusk. "I don't...suppose I could...maybe...join you?"

"Sure. Meet me tomorrow after classes by the parking lot!" Dusk took her belongings and made her way down the bleachers. She waved at Sirenius, who gave her a rather lovesick one. Meanwhile, Penna and Mina were sitting at the first row, enjoying some of Mina's homemade tuna sandwiches right when Naga came slithering and spat an envelope into Penna's lap.

"A letter?" Penna's eyes widened. "I wonder..."

"Ooh, is it from that new guy friend of yours?" Mina excitedly, but quietly as Penna opened the envelope, for the latter had made it clear that she didn't want her secret to spread out faster than the Black Plague. "What does it say?"

"' _Dear Viper Eyes,_ " Penna read, " _'As predicted, I couldn't stop thinking about you ever since we first met, so as you recommended, I found Naga eating mice in her hunting grounds and I asked her if she could deliver this letter to you. I hope she does._

"' _The prince of our kingdom has been recently offered by King Ben and Fairy Godmother to host the Easter Festival on April 11th...'"_

"The Easter Festival? That's like the most famous royal event in all of Auradon!" Mina said. "And this year it will be taking place on the full moon!"

"The full moon..." Penna remembered Bug Fly agreeing with her that they'd share their real names if they became true friends by the full moon. She continued reading. "' _Unfortunately, the prince has been called by other duties, leaving us to take care of the preparations in order to give a better 'touch from the people to give more spice to the royals' festivities', as he put it.'"_

"Eh, I forgot about that." Mina rubbed Naga's belly, making the snake happy.

"Forgot what?" Penna asked.

"The Easter Festival is one of the famous events in Auradon that are reserved for royals and aristocrats only," Mina answered.

"But...that's not fair. Why shouldn't commoners take part in the festivities?" She looked at the letter. "At least it seems like the prince of my new friend's kingdom tries to think of _all_ his subjects." Penna suddenly blushed as she read the rest of the letter. "' _Should you be available at all during the week-end, would you give me the pleasure of spending time with me and the rest of our group? As a local resident of Auradon, it would be great to hear your opinion on the native festival. If you are interested, please write an approving paper and put it in Naga's mouth. I shall be delighted to read it the next time we see her. Sincerely, Bug Fly._ ' He...he wants me to help him? Oh my..."

"There's not a moment to lose!" Mina grabbed her black backpack and ran through her metal-covered binders and spiked book covers until she pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. "Tell him yes!"

"Hang on, I have to see if I'm available!" Penna pulled out her personal schedule. "Class, class, encourage Minuit during cheerleading, class, check to see if Jessie's outfit for the Pride Games drama stand-off will be delivered tonight, volunteering at the orphanage...No, I should be good for the entire weekend!" Penna wrote down her approval on the paper Mina gave her, put it in the envelope, and showed it to Naga. "Please give it to him, Naga." The snake nodded and swallowed the envelope before slithering her way down the bleachers and through the Tourney Field, nearly distracting Ronilda Stoppable and the other St Luther cheerleaders during their rehearsing, before making it to the woods.

"So Jessie Joker is going to be in tomorrow morning's drama stand-off?" The girls got up and made their way down the bleachers in order to get to Malevia Village while the cheerleaders took a break, leaving space for Jay and Gabriel to play soccer against Othello Traviesa and Moji Boo. "Then again, isn't she the Joker's daughter?"

"And Harley Quinn's. Why do you think she wears red and black outfits?" Penna sighed. "She's been a lover of drama and pranks ever since she was little. Naturally, I never paid attention to her before I adopted her..."

"Why not?" Mina's question made Penna stop in her tracks.

" _Why not?_ Hello, Voldemort forced me to see Muggles -you know, non-magical humans- and half-bloods as vermin because 'They treat you like vermin, so treat _them_ back like vermins!'" She quoted and imitated her father in voice and gestures before slouching and dropping her arms in defeat, not noticing the passing students seeing her depressed behavior. "No matter what I did to be nice, none of the Muggles, half-bloods, and the pureblood that I met throughout my life cared. I couldn't even talk to one of them without hearing 'AH! IT'S VOLDEMORT'S DAUGHTER! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! GO BACK TO YOUR CREATOR, YOU WALKING DEATH OMEN!'" Penna sat down on one of the benches near the Malevia Village gates. "They kept judging me before even knowing me. That's why I'm used to being alone. Even being near the children of Death Eaters didn't help me and it turns out that they were using me to help my father gain control of me during the arrival of the Villains Comet!" Tears slowly dropped from her eyes. "I felt much closer to Jessie, Minuit, Feige, Dårlig, Indimia, and Bloodyle because they had problems similar to mine, but now Bloodyle, my childhood foster sibling, is dead with Indimia, Feige and Dårlig are moving on with their lives and getting more accepted into society, and Minuit and Jessie are being pushed away by my two feuding halves!"

"Ha, Penna, there you...Did I interrupt something?" Ben came in, followed by Principal Melchior.

"No, I'm fine," Penna calmed down. "Can I help you?"

"Well, after what happened with the decathlon, the U.N representatives, the Fairy Godmother, and I managed to do some talking," Ben explained. "The representatives are willing to excuse your 'emotional outburst' from the decathlon to avoid staining your rehabilitation records, but only if you make your required appearance at the Potion-Crafting event..."

"Potion-crafting, are you mad, Ben?" Penna scowled. She pointed at the silver snake cuff bracelet she wore around her left wrist. "First of all, I have this thing to neutralize my magic, which is not helpful because Potion-Crafting requires using magic! Second, I'm _not_ going to use magic!"

"Why not?" Mina frowned. "Last time I checked, Ronilda said you were a walking magic powerhouse!"

"It is true that Ms. Stoppable has ranted about that detail during her tales about what happened on the Isle," Principal Melchior pointed out.

"A _dark magic_ powerhouse!" Penna corrected them. "Before I surrendered to evil, I was completely hopeless at perfect magic, and ever since I reformed from my crimes, my magical senses won't let me use magic for non-evil purposes due to being hardwired in bad intentions! Ben, you of all people should know! I accidently put Mal in a sleeping curse during Merlin's class when all I was trying to do was do my turn-rags-into-riches exercise correctly. And besides, whether I try my hardest or fail on purpose, I'm just going to stir another angry crowd!" She paused in her ranting as if she got an idea and asked Ben: "They're only asking for my appearance?"

"Yes." The young king nodded.

"So...all I have to do is stand there and do nothing while the others do the competition!" She got up the bench and clasped her hands in glee. "Perfect! Without even lifting a finger, people will be happy!"

"Are you sure? Minuit went nuts just standing there and doing nothing except for answering an alicorn-based question that Charlotte ended up unmasking her! I mean, mostly everyone got over you not being there during the decathlon, which really pissed them off, but then again..." Mina shrugged it off. "Yeah, you're right. Nobody complained when Minuit posed as you hardly participated. It's only when they found out the truth that they got mad and nobody won..."

"Still, participation is all part of the sportsmanship seen in the Pride Games," Principal Melchior said. He pulled out a bottle from inside his uniform, revealing the color to be just like the one Penna and Mina saw Lonnie drinking from. "Perhaps a good toast of grenadine will cheer such moody spirits?" He held out the grenadine bottle, hoping that one of the three teens would accept it.

"It's very generous of you, Principal Melchior, but I avoid having extra sugar after lunch," Ben politely declined.

"High-intolerance of ellagic acids," Mina reminded matter-of-factly. Principal Melchior then tried offering the grenadine bottle to Penna, who looked at him with a scowl. Clearly, she didn't really seem to like the headmaster of St Luther Rose Academy. "The only decency Voldemort had for raising me," she said flatly as she put a finger on the bottle and pushed it down, "is that he told me to never accept drinks from strangers and that sugar's not good for me. And he was a _very_ sour man."

"Penna, he's not a stranger, he's the principal of St Luther's," Ben tried to reassure her. "He's someone who can be trusted."

"Gee, he goes around offering grenadine to everyone but he can't keep his own students from mobbing at my front door? Thanks, but I'd rather stick to drinking plain water or even Naga's spit." She and Mina proceeded to walk away. "And for the record, Ben," Penna shouted out, "I hate fruit juices, which you'd already know if you were so concerned about my well-being!"

 _After dinnertime, in the kitchens_

"...And then she said 'And for the record, Ben, I hate fruit juices, which you'd already know if you were so concerned about my well-being!'" Ben was in the kitchen, helping out Dårlig and Feige clean the dishes with Hu Xiongmao, the son of Po the Dragon Warrior and Tigress, while Karl was teaching Izzy how to prepare spinach puffs and Esten Du Bonpain, St Luther's modest baker and the son of Anastasia Tremaine and the baker, was beating the flour for his baguettes.

"She's got a point, Ben," Dårlig said while scrubbing a plate. "When Voldemort raised Penna into being evil, he also forbid her from tasting sweet food that could 'soften' her to the point where he put a spell on her that would shock her bones if she tried eating anything good back when she studied at Hogwarts. Naturally, when I first started working for Penna, I didn't know about her disdain for fruits and sugar until I made the mistake of surprising her with a pumpkin pie and crème fraiche for Thanksgiving." He shivered. "I still have the goose-bumps remembering the snake bites I got on my thighs..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Penna didn't trust Principal Melchior, Benjamin," Esten spoke in his fluent French accent while rolling his dough on the counter. "Most of us at St Luther don't."

"Why not?" Feige frowned. She tried to reach up and put the plates back in the upper cabinet, but when she couldn't, she relied on her hair to rise up and do all the work.

"It's like he doesn't really care about dealing with us children of antiheroes."

"Then again, Esten, it's not like Balthazar and Gaspard liked their jobs as principals of St Luther anyway," Karl pointed out while he helped Izzy put the spinach puff in the oven. Her cheeks blushed at his touch. "Why do you think Gaspard ensured that all the students got tracking devices inserted in them as soon as they got enrolled? I'll tell you why: because they see us as uncontrollable."

"Uncontrollable as in 'nothing's gonna stop me from saving the world' or as in 'I'm a wild dog who needs to be caged'?" Izzy asked Karl.

"More like 'I don't trust any of you, so I'm going to put tracking devices on you so that I won't get sued by your parents in case you get into trouble'." Karl rolled his eyes.

"Not that I approve with the entire planting devices on students all, but we do have to recognize that without them, no one would have realized that some of your friends were missing because of, you know..." Dårlig hesitated to say the words that would best describe the last time a villain tried to take over the world.

"We _did_ , and so did Balthazar." Esten sprinkled some cinnamon on his baguette dough before adding them to the oven once the spinach puffs were done. He walked over to Ben and Dårlig and lifted his sleeve, revealing a red bruise on his right wrist like he had been stabbed or something, making the boys gasp. "As soon as he took office, Principal Melchior demanded that the tracking devices be removed from all the students, whether they liked it or not. Most of us did enjoy not having to worry about the faculty keep an eye on them, but we got kinda...reckless from the neglect."

"The neglect?" Ben was getting concerned.

"Many break more rules than ever, some are sleeping in class because Coach Sabertooth wore them out with her running laps, detention with Mr. Barkin is becoming so popular that it's being considered as a second home, and all Principal Melchior bothers to do is stay in his office, speak in announcements, or tell us to behave if we don't respect him."

"Who _does_ respect him?" Feige asked.

"EXACTLY!" Karl and Esten exclaimed.

"Alright, the cupcakes are ready!" Dårlig brought up two cupcake boxes wrapped in red wrapping paper decorated with clown faces. "We got the Congratulations cupcakes and the Condolences cupcakes, depending on how Jessie does in the stand-off tomorrow."

"You make Congratulations and Condolences cupcakes?" Esten asked. He arched an eyebrow at Dårlig.

"One patch in case Jessie wins and the other in case she loses," the Bergen boy explained. "Penna's clowny favorite gets hyper after every single drama show she has to do publicly and the only thing that can calm her down are red velvet cupcakes covered with dark chocolate frosting and coconut flakes. I always made Congratulations and Condolences cupcakes back on the Isle whenever Jessie took part in a school play, but since her guardian is you know her, the frightened judges always gave her the prize! And I had to force feed Roedor Pettigrew at eating the Condolences!" He and Feige bursted in laughter.

"The idiot kept forgetting about his red velvet allergies that he kept eating them and his fat would swell, we nearly fed him to Naga!" Feige high-fived her boyfriend until they saw the others looking blanking at them. She cleared her throat. "Then again, it was very mean of us."

"Good save," Izzy said.

"Well, since Jessie seems to be so good at drama, she might have a problem named Narcisisto Kuzco during the stand-off." Esten winked at Karl. "He's like the king of being a drama king!"

"I thought that was Julian's job," Ben said.

"Let's just say he prefers 'king of the swiggy booty'!" Karl made a phony interpretation of Julian Lemur XIV by shaking his booty and doing that accent of the son of King Julian, making the others chuckle.

"Fine, but I bet that Jessie will win top actress tomorrow!" Feige said.

"Well I bet that it will be Narcisisto the winner for the position of top actor!" Esten dared. "And the loser has to clean the other's dishes until the Pride Games are over!"

"Deal!"

 _The next day, at the Auradon Prep auditorium_

People applauded as the competitors bowed before the public on stage. What was so unique about the drama stand-off during the Pride Games was that it involved the competitors _working_ together to make the play a success: making the set decorations, designing the costumes, directing, acting, and so on.

Usually, the plays used for the stand-off were based on classics from the language curriculums, but this year was an exception. It was a theatrical interpretation of _Days Of Our Good And Bad Lives_ , Gabriel Legume's first and most successful book so far that managed to not only achieve his dream of being a writer, but also receiving an Academy Award for being 'the most realistically describing book of an individual's life between two places and learning the value of being true to yourself while walking among a crowd of villains and heroes'.

"It is now time for giving out the golden prizes for the best of our dramatic people," Mr. Barkin said through the microphone while Leidi Du Wifi and Charles Frollo stood next to him and lifted a large box full of golden fist-sized trophies. "The prizes for original story writing and impressive theatrical adaptation go to the respective winners...Gabriel Legume and Darcy Fae from Auradon Prep!"

The Auradon Prep students exploded in applause as Gabriel and Darcy walked up to the stage and received their prizes.

"Prize for original set design...Nora Belartiste from Auradon Prep!"

Nora's foster siblings watching in the audience cheered for her as she walked up and got her reward.

"Prizes for top two best understudies, even though nobody was hurt, Hamida Let and Emily Bovary from St Luther Rose Academy!" The daughters of Hamlet and Emma Bovary walked in proudly at the sound of their happy peers.

"Prizes for best costume designs, Noir Du Feu and Napoleon Moriarty!"

"5 to 2 trophies for Auradon Prep, this is good!" Audrey squealed.

"Time to see who wins the position of best actor or actress," Feige smirked at Esten, who merely shrugged with confidence.

"And now it's time to announce the winners for best actors and best secondary actors, so listen up, people!" Mr. Barkin got everyone's attention. "Now, the best secondary actor and actress who will be receiving the golden award for best secondary acting are...Jessie Joker from Auradon Prep and Narcisisto Kuzco from St Luther Rose Academy!"

"WHAT?" Feige and Esten exclaimed in shock, seeing that they both lost their bet, which made Dårlig and Karl smirk.

"So, Esten, I'm gonna need you to clean all those dirty dishes and silverware from this morning's breakfast," Dårlig said. "And make sure you don't leave any microscopic food particle!"

"And Feige, make sure that when you scrub my pots, I can see my reflection to give me self-confidence while I cook!" Karl and Dårlig chuckled and high-fived one another while Feige and Esten slouched on their seats in anger.

"Wait, if Narcisisto and Jessie didn't make it to top actor and actress, than who did?" Izzy was confused.

"And our best actor and actress for this year's Pride Games, both coming from Auradon Prep, are Señor Senior Three and Macy Beth!"

"WHAT?" Almost everyone exclaimed. They didn't exclaim because of Macy, who gratefully accepted her reward, but because of Señor Senior Three, the childish son of Señor Senior Junior who was jumping and shouting like a happy child at Easter as he got his reward.

"Yes! I won! I won! Hooray!" He hugged his trophy like a toy and kept making happy noises that bugged almost everyone, especially his villainous peers related to his family's area: Martin facepalmed himself, Buffy was speechless, Amelia looked like she wanted to hide in her otterfly plush toy, Gilliard covered his ears to protect himself from SST's ghastly noises, Professor Dementor's daughter Dementia nearly fell of her seat when SST's high-pitched voice cracked her glasses' lenses, Camille Leon's son Camillo made a gagging face with his pet chameleon Camouflage as its skin turned green, Adrena Lyn's son Andre and Motor Ed's daughter Edina tried to hit each other's head's with wrenches, Nanny Maim's daughter Nancy sat and looked stiffly, and Frugal Lucre's son Frank Lurman...Let's just say that the guy was a complete idiot to actually bother clapping for the winner. As for Melgo, Ronilda, and Mr. Barkin's son Stan from St Luther, let's also just say that they wondered how many Señor Seniors there were on the surface of the planet. Even Reedy had to put earmuffs on when it watched the whole thing from the pocket of her owner Ronilda.

"At least we won," Mal said in a bored tone.

 _Later on at lunch_

"Keep your hair up in a bun and don't loosen until you're done volunteering and change as soon as you can." It was now lunchtime and Mina was helping out Penna for her special weekend rendezvous with Bug Fly that would start as soon as Penna was done with her volunteering session at the orphanage today. Mina was adjusting Penna's bun to make sure that no loose strand came out, which was not easy since they were doing it while they were walking towards the exit.

"Dumbledore's twisted beard, Mina, it's just a friendly get together, not a date!" Penna hissed quietly.

"That's what my dad said after his first hangout with my mom and a few more led to unexpected romance!" Mina flattened the wrinkles on the shirt Penna had gotten from Kit and made sure it was neatly folded in Penna's black duffle bag. "Look, all you have to do is be yourself while hanging out with the guy and leave out the part about you being the daughter of Snake Psycho, and if anybody else asks, you say that you're helping out with a charity event to clear your name."

"Which wouldn't be a lie because Bug Fly asked me if I could help him out with the Easter Festival...Mina, you're a mega genius!"

"Duh!" The girls high-fived one another.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?"

The girls hid their previous giddiness when they saw Mal calling them from the nearest table. She was sitting with Ben, Lonnie, Artemis, Minuit, Jessie, and Narcisisto. The latter two were eating both of Dårlig's Congratulations and Condolences cupcakes.

"Uh, I think you're supposed to eat the Condolences cupcakes, J.J," Penna said uneasily when she saw Jessie eating the cupcakes.

"I both lost first place and won second place, so I have the right to eat both." Jessie shrugged as she kept filling up her mouth with cupcakes until Penna forcefully snatched the cupcakes out of Jessie's hands.

"Jessie, that's enough sugar in one day!" Penna said crossly, making it clear that she was frustrated at Jessie, who flinched when she saw the former getting upset. "You want me to spend another amount of money just to get you medicine for your stomach aches?"

"No..." Jessie looked upset and ashamed, making the others look at her in pity. Penna lifted the latter's face up with her hands cupping Jessie's cheeks. Her lavender thumbs gently rubbed the frosting off Jessie's skin.

"Look, I have to be absent for a charity event preparation and I might not come back until Sunday afternoon," she told Jessie. "Please don't get yourself into any trouble while I'm gone, alright J.J?" Jessie nodded in understanding. "That's my girl..." A smile growing on her black lipstick covered mouth, Jessie gave a tight hug to Penna, who warmly returned it.

"Is the orphanage running a charity event?" Minuit asked Penna. "Because they could seriously use more money to fix that bathroom on the North Wing. The last time Ingwer and Winnie went volunteering there, the orphanage got complaint postcards from the Wicked Witch of the West from the Isle when F.G told her that Winnie nearly got soaked to death when one of the toddlers tried to trip her in a toilet." Small snorts came out of Lonnie and Artemis.

"It's true that they could use more money, but I actually managed to get an opportunity to volunteer at the preparations for the Easter Festival..." Penna stopped talking when she saw Ben spit out his drink.

"The Easter Festival?!" he exclaimed. "But...Prince Marius is preparing it!"

"The prince of the Fae Realm?" Penna arched an eyebrow. "No offense, Ben, but A, I don't really give a hoot about royalty, and B, if he's in charge of the festival, then doesn't that mean he's out of town?"

"What are you talking about?" Mal asked.

"Oh, Penna's made herself a new friend who asked her if she could help him and his friends out with the preparations because the prince was all 'I'm going to let the people speak up by organizing the festival for me' and left them with all the burden while he had better duties to attend to!" Mina said. "Seriously, Ben, just _how much_ did you and the others manage to piss the guy at the evening dinner?"

"Hey, it worked out fine until he expressed his biased opinions on fairies working for humans and Chad throwing his usual Chad-arrogance!" Narcisisto pointed out. "Next thing you know, he stormed out!"

"Fairy Godmother suggested that he took care of the Easter Festival as a way for us to apologize," Ben explained, "but if it's true that he's leaving the jobs to his subjects, than I can say farewell for any chance of making better impressions..."

"Gee, I didn't know you royals could get any lamer." Ben and Narcisisto looked shocked at Penna as she made her sarcastic dry comment. She gave them all a small good-bye before making her way out of here.

"So, if I understand correctly, the girl who almost took over the world for the dad who brainwashed her...has a sour teeth for royals?" Mina asked Minuit.

"Eh." Minuit shrugged.

"Put yourself in her snakeskin shoes," Jessie said. "With Voldemort ruining her life and destroying her hopes for getting a love life, Penna gave up on the entire concept of Prince Charmings that will give you a happily ever after...And it's only made her hate royalty even more."


	11. So We Meet Again

Chapter 11: So We Meet Again

Penna finished making the last bed of the sleeping area of the orphanage while the children were out playing in the playground around 3pm. It had been uneasy when she started volunteering at the orphanage in order to get credits for rehabilitation, but the children and staff eventually learned that Penna was quite a delightful expert at handling children, so now Penna wasn't surprised if she occasionally ran into a five-year-old who got her attention by pulling her sleeve and showing her the crayon drawing he or she made for her.

"It's 3 now, Penna. You can clock out now," Sandra, the middle-aged woman who had been working at the orphanage for thirty years now, told Penna as the former brought in the children's clean laundry.

"Thank you, Mrs. Sandra." Penna bowed to Sandra before leaving. "I'll see you next week."

"Take care, my dear."

Penna walked quietly and slowly out of the sleeping area. Once she was sure no one was looking, she made a dash for the locker room until she bumped into someone and landed back first on the flower painted lockers. "I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed until she recognized whom she had bumped into. "Kit? What are you doing here?"

Kit, the girl she remembered as being one of Bug Fly's friends, rubbed her forehead in pain as she straightened herself up. "I'd ask you the same thing," Kit said. "Wait, you _work_ here?"

"No, I volunteer here since I'm the only sane person on the planet who can handle orphans," Penna said. Sure, most of the truth was that she had to do volunteering in Auradon to repay for her crimes and the only local places that accepted her as part of their committee to help the needy were the orphanage due to her skills at handling parent-less children and the local public library who admired the fact that she respected the 'Quiet In The Library' policy while reading, but she couldn't say it to her...new friends.

"Aw, you like kids?" Kit said while Penna opened her locker and pulled out her bag. "That's so cool. The pri...president of the Easter Festival committee, which is our friend Bug Fly, also has a thing for kids."

"Really?" Penna asked in curiosity.

"Have you seen him going to charity events and festivals back home? The kids just _love_ it when he gives them piggyback rides and showing them how to make boutonnières." Kit rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I've been snooping around for an hour or so in order to see how the orphans were being treated at Auradon so that I can report it to Bug Fly so that way we can figure out ways to make the Easter Festival a delightful moment for the cuties."

"Wait, Bug Fly and...the constantly absent and judgmental prince Marius Bogfae are planning to make the Easter Festival public for real?" Penna asked as she changed from her volunteering outfit into the one she had been given the last time she had seen Kit. "That's so nice of them."

"Hey, back home we do parties where everyone's invited!" Kit pointed out. She then blinked.

"What?" Penna asked right before putting her shirt on.

"I can't believe I didn't notice before that you had a tattoo on your back," Kit said. She pointed a finger at Penna's mark of villainy, making Penna gasped when she realized that she forgot about its existence. Kit's eyes nearly popped. "Wait, why on earth do you have Kraken Acupuncture Needles on it?"

"Say, how about we join the others for the Easter Festival preparations?" Penna roughly put on her shirt and led Kit out of the orphanage before the later could say anything. At Penna's suggestion, they took shortcuts through the alleys (unlike on the Isle, the alleys are very harmless) since Penna didn't want to stir the fright of the locals until they reached Green Grove, the greenest outdoor theater that you could possibly find in the area with a view of the blue sea and the rows made of genuine green grass surrounding an oval field larger than Auradon Prep itself. Usually, Green Grove was used for outdoor shows during warmer seasons like whenever gypsies came by or when the circus came in town. But now, it was the area selected for this year's Easter Festival by those organizing it.

"To think the royals usually organize the Easter Festival indoors at the palace," Penna said in awe.

"Wait here, I'll go tell Bug Fly you arrived." Kit made her way down the rows, leaving Penna to sit and wait patiently while Kit reached the other end of the field, where she found Bug Fly going through some papers with Junk and a few other party organizers from their kingdom.

"I've come with some reports, Your Highness," she told Bug Fly quietly.

"You are all excused," Bug Fly told the organizers. They politely bowed to him and made their way, leaving the trio alone. "Speak."

"Turns out that these natives can handle parent-less children very well: well-sized and well-provided beds, three warm meals that are different every day to give a sense of international culinary diversity, good quality clothes, toys, education, and medical aid provides through non-profit donations and professional experts," Kit said. "Oh, and I also found your friend volunteering there."

Bug Fly looked past Kit's shoulder and saw Penna waiting patiently and accepting a passing servant's offer to try out one of their chestnut soups. His eyes gleamed with excitement and he prepared to get up until Kit held him down cautiously. "I should warn you, Your Highness, that I found Kraken Acupuncture Needles on her back."

"What?" Bug Fly narrowed his eyes in a mix of anger and concern. "How did she get them?"

"I don't know, your Highness. I can't believe I didn't notice it the last time we saw her, but those needles look like they've been on her for a very long time and that there have been attempts to remove them rather painfully. And the strangest part is that she tried to avoid talking about it. I mean, she _literally_ pushed me out of the orphanage and had us go through alleys to get here!"

"I bet those humans put them on her and told her not to tell anyone!" Junk suggested. "Is this how they treat citizens here, Your Highness? By nailing Kraken Acupuncture Needles?"

"Those needles are usually used by villains and were prohibited in the past from what I read," Bug Fly pondered until he came up with something. "Keep your mouths shut about it and act like nothing suspicious is going on. We'll keep trying to be friends with Viper Eyes and also try to get the truth about how she got the needles in the first place. When you get the chance, have one of my messengers make a dash back to the Fae Realm and bring back one of the magic history books I have..."

"You know how the Bog King and the Fairy Queen feel about you using magic, Your Highness," Junk warned.

"I' m doing it for a good cause! Just do what you're told!" Junk nodded to the prince and made his way out. As for the prince, he got up and cracked his knuckles. "Kit, make sure the others know what they're doing." He sprung his wings open and flew towards the other side of Green Grove, where he found Penna enjoying the last bit of the chestnut soup she had been offered. "Viper Eyes! How have you been lately?" He greeted her with a warm smile as he landed.

"Besides the fact that you guys make amazing chestnut soup, I'm doing well, thank you," Penna greeted him back right when a servant came by to collect her empty soup bowl. She got up from her seated position and clasped her hands together. "So I see you guys are planning to do the Easter Festival outdoors."

"Indeed," Bug Fly said as he led her down the green steps to get to the big field. "See, back in our kingdom..."

"The Fae Realm?"

"Yes...Wait, how did you know?" Bug Fly looked puzzled.

"Oh, I have a couple friends who met Prince Marius at the evening dinner on the day he arrived and the prince left off because they bugged him for some reason and they tried to make it up to them by letting him organize the Easter Festival." She shrugged. "Naturally I don't like royals and their petty issues, but I can't lie when I say that each party had valid arguing points." She sighed in relief. "At least it's good to now that the trouble back there was none of my responsibility." She looked grim when she said the last sentence.

"Oh..." Bug Fly could feel himself both scolding and reassuring himself. Positively speaking, not telling Viper Eyes just yet that _he_ was the Prince of the Fae Realm was a good way of earning her friendship without her hating him just yet, but...Who knew what would happen when she found out?

His thoughts were interrupted by a fairy organizer with grey hair and a green uniform. He carried a scroll in his arms. "Excuse me, milord, but I'd like to discuss the perimeters and layouts of the festival with you."

"Proceed." Bug Fly grimaced a bit: even though his servants and staffs made it clear that he didn't want to be called by his title while Viper Eyes was around, they still called him names indicating that he was their superior. Meanwhile, the fairy organizer unrolled the paper, revealing a blueprint of Green Grove.

"Clearly the geography differences between Auradon and our kingdom are mostly related to size, but after some further analyzing, we concluded that we can put most of the Easter Festival right here, depending on the amount of citizens who end up coming..." The fairy organizer said.

"The Easter Festival is supposed to be open to all folks," Bug Fly told the organizer. "We agreed at the conference table yesterday that I'm not soiling the Fae Realm's royal family reputation by making this a snobby party!"

"Of course, milord, it's just that I also don't know if we should risk offending our hosts even more by not preserving any of their traditions."

"If I may, sir," Penna politely cut in and told the organizer, "you can never experience new things if you don't try something new. So how will Auradon know how the Fae Realm does its festivities if it's only going to do what the other expects?" She pointed at the blueprint. "What were some of the installations planned for the festival?"

"Well, we're planning on using the central field as a stage and dance floor for music performances, dancing, and other presentations, and since the rows encircling the field are incredibly large, we'll be placing stands on them," the fairy organizer explained to her.

"Yes, each of them is big enough to hold 300 people and 10 to 15 caravans..."

"Caravans?" Bug Fly asked.

"Mobile homes for those who travel," Penna said. "Green Grove also serves as a tourist camping area. They only close it if there's a performance going on. So judging by the facts, you should be able to place around 10 stands as you wish. Although, I would check out for possible dangers by getting a good security service. Sure, nobody in Auradon would be dumb enough to commit suicide by jumping off a theater row, but safety reassurance is the best."

"That sounds excellent," Bug Fly agreed. "Have the builders get on it," he told the organizer.

"Right away, milord and milady." He bowed his head to them and made his way to a group of builders working on building the stage while Bug Fly, in the meantime, looked at Penna with an impressed gaze.

"Wow. You're such a natural," he said. His comment surprised Penna, who bit her lip at the thought of how her life experiences defined Penna being 'natural' as 'a puppet of the man who created you'. Of course, there were moments in her life when she was nothing like Voldemort when she was still evil, but still, most of the bad events created by her had been caused by her parent for real.

"You have no idea," she mumbled out loud. "I've you've met me decades ago..."

"Sorry, I'm not raised to ask a lady's age," he said as they walked around the stands that were being settled on the rows. Bug Fly took a pause and a long sniff in the air, puzzling Penna until he spoke. "Shocking how you still manage to stay so healthy for someone who's past a hundred years old."

"What...How did...Huh?" Her baffled reaction made him chuckle.

"You'd be surprised how living in a kingdom with a grand population of flowers and scented plants can help you develop a detailed sense of smell." Bug Fly patted her shoulder in comfort. "If it makes you more reassured, do know that you smell nothing like the usual 100 year old corpse and more like the sixteen-year-old fresh violet that's been dipping in snake oil."

"You're...the second guy who's crazy enough to compliment my perfume," she said. "I gave a concussion to the first one and he's dead."

"That must have been one heck of a concussion," Bug Fly said. He looked up in the sky. "And I thought that was how couples met. It sure worked for my parents."

"Your mother gave your father a concussion on the first day?" Penna gasped. She then looked up as well. "I thought it was usually the guy who makes the first move."

"I know, right?" Bug Fly said in agreement. "They met when my father tried to hold my aunt for ransom and my mother punched him and told him she'll have his have his head on a stick." He rubbed his chin at the thought of it. "Turns out he has quite a taste for tough girls for someone who used to be a villain..."

"Your father was a villain too?" Penna's reaction made her accidently bump into a servant carrying a silver dish full of punch. The juice spilled onto her and stained her clothes. "Good Oberon!" The servant exclaimed.

"No, it's my fault!" Penna exclaimed while her mind was fighting against the evil Penna's insistence of slapping the servant. She got up and pleaded with Bug Fly. "Don't blame the servant, it's my fault I wasn't paying attention!" She paused at the sweet scent of the punch staining her skin and pressed her thumb on her lips to try it. "What a good punch! Is this nectar juice?" The servant nodded her head.

"I'm sincerely sorry, milord," the servant told Bug Fly.

"We still have time until the Easter Festival and making more nectar juice punch isn't a problem," he said. A goblin guard gave him a towel to cover Penna with. "And since we're crazily prepared, we also have a tent for emergency clothing replacement."

 _Minutes later, at the emergency clothing tent_

The emergency clothing tent was a tent in the low areas of Green Grove with a good view of the sea where it was meant to serve as placement of clothing, accessories, and other apparel utilities in the royal tent. A nice rose red carpet was on the soft grass, tables and chairs were settled for dining at the center, a floral curtain acted as a door for the entrance, and a folding screen made with green leaf fabric was covering Penna and Kit while the latter poured a bucket full of water and lavender-scented soap, making Penna yelp.

"Cold water? Really?" Penna grumbled as she took a clean towel to dry herself thoroughly.

"Hey, it's the emergency tent, not the spa!" Kit pointed out. "Boss, where's the trunk full of clothing for women?"

"By the bead box!" Bug Fly was waiting for them at the table, where he was busy using flowers and leaves to sew boutonnières with great focus until he briefly looked up at the vanity mirror facing him a few feet away from the table. His needle dropped from his fingers and onto the table when he saw that the mirror was reflecting an angled view of what was going on behind the folding screen. Kit was going through the trunk, which was no surprise to him, but it was Viper Eyes' appearance that stunned him the most while she dried her hair and stood up in all her form.

Many individuals, especially the males, have known about and seen the beauty of Penna's physical appearance, but none like Bug Fly have lived to get the opportunity to see her naked without her knowing. Bug Fly's eyes began to grow a sense of desire when he saw those graceful lavender colored curves that made her slender, hourglass figure look so smooth, her hips desirable as fruits in a tree, and the perfectly sized plump breasts tantalizing enough to make any male jump at her and feast on the milk her chest contained. The lovely neck that seemed fresh out of kisses, the long black teal-streaked hair that flowed down her waist...

That's when he saw it: a ghastly black diagram of a fourteen-pointed star, each point designed like the moon glyph of death, and in the center, a screaming purple girl was being constricted to death by a green snake. The only thing worse than that design scarring the lovely creature's back were scratches, bruises, and red marks that indicated that severe medical attention had failed its purpose when tending to this patient. And the dots in the moon glyphs...Bug Fly recognized them as the Kraken Acupuncture Needles that Kit told him about.

Questions stirred his mind as he looked away from the mirror to think and went back to sewing boutonnières, which always helped him to clear his thoughts. In the end, he came up with a good conclusion: until Junk could get a messenger to come back with the book he needed, Bug Fly would continue to get to know his knew friend and see if he could find out why she had the Needles in the first place while dealing with the entire 'possible alliance or rivalry' issue with King Ben at the same time.

"OK, what is it with you morphing the clothes we give you?" he heard Kit complaining from behind the folding screen.

"I'm sorry!" Viper Eyes said anxiously. "I can't help myself!"

"Is everything alright?" Bug Fly asked.

"Boss, she morphed the clothes we gave her...again!" Kit led Viper Eyes out of the folding screen. "The first time we did this, I could handle it, but this is ridiculous!"

"I swear on the River Styx I didn't mean to," Viper Eyes said. "I have an aura issue that won't...approve on nice clothing."

"Are you suggesting we don't have good clothes of good quality?" Kit asked, insulted.

"Not _that_ kind of nice!" Viper Eyes rolled her bluish eyes, making them look like diamonds to Bug Fly. "Nice as in good guys, bright colors, sunshine, cupcakes, rainbows, or I'm going to save the world in tights and a red cape and live happily ever after while riding into the sunset on my noble steed! My aura will only let me wear stuff like darkness, tight fabric, female fatale, snakeskin, or I'm going to take over the world by crushing my enemies!"

"It definetly sounds like my type of style if you exclude the entire take over the world," Bug Fly shrugged as he admired the clothing Viper Eyes was now wearing: a sleeveless teal petal shirt with a mandarin collar and slithering snake patterns, black flare pants with purple flowers and snake vines designed on the ends, and black bondage boots. Her majestic hair was fashioned just like on the day they just met, only violet flowers and dark green leaves were included as well to give a more floral attire, fang earrings and leaf-based cuff bracelets. "I bet my mother would have loved your aura's sense of fashion."

"Really?" She blushed. Before she could say anything, Kit and Bug Fly tensed wen they saw the shadows created by the light moving in the tent in a strange pattern. His wings shook a bit. "What's going on?" she asked.

The curtain opened and an elf servant came in. "Milord, King Ben and a couple of his friends have come passing by in the hopes of speaking with you. Fairy Godmother is among them. What do you expect us to tell them?"

Viper Eyes trembled nervously. Bug Fly took it as a hint that she was afraid of the humans or something. "Kit, go out there with the others and politely tell the humans that I had to make an errand."

"Yes, sir!" Kit and the servant rushed out through the curtain while he took Penna by the hand and dragged her out the back. "Meanwhile, you and I have to go do an errand. What's the farthest place to eat you can think of?"

"The Sebastian Groove Bar?" Penna suggested. She then saw that they were running very fast until he got hold of her well enough to hold her in his arms and jumped of the ground. Penna screamed until he saw his wings sprouting open, causing the purple glass-like patterns on the wings to sparkle like diamonds under the sunlight as he flew above the blue ocean.

"Sorry about that," he said sincerely. "I mostly rely on air travel to move around."

"No, you're fine!" Penna clutched his tunic a bit tightly. "I just forgot what it was like to fly!"

"You had wings?" He looked at her.

"I'd gladly talk about it but only on solid ground!"

"Right! Which way am I going?"

"Northeast!"

He didn't hesitate and flew like a jet by the waves crashing onto the cliffs in zigzags, horizontally as he went upward and left the blue ocean for a world of green trees and a large field of flowers diverse in colors and fragrance. The two of them looked at the sights in amazement.

"What a field!" He exclaimed! "It almost reminds me of my home!"

"That field is part of a floral preserve!" Penna said. "Since most of them are endangered species of flowers, Auradon has them in the preserve and forbidden to any human who wants to pick them!"

They then flew a bit more upward and by a flock of doves that sailed the clouds in perfect unity. Bug Fly held Penna tightly to keep her from falling while she stared in amazement at the ocean beneath her as it reflected the lights of the sun. He then went downward to be close enough to the water and Penna could reach out and touch it, creating a trail of crystal waters behind them.

Finally, they saw a couple buildings in a seaside area. With her directions, he managed to land in a safe area near Sebastian's Groove Bar.

"Wow!" She was out of breath and nearly losing her balance. Fortunately, Bug Fly helped her stand up.

"Shall we go inside?"

He gentlemanly escorted her inside the small blue building that was Sebastian's Groove Bar until Penna froze when she saw who was greeting them at the entrance like an usher. "Crystal?" Penna exclaimed.

The daughter of Jareth recognized Penna and was about to say something until Penna covered the latter's mouth. "He doesn't me and I don't know him and we won't know who we are until we've established a trusting friendship. So I'm begging you, Crystal, just play in the act, find us a private table where no one will see and bother us, and don't tell anyone, and I swear on the River Styx that I'll make it up to you! OK?"

Crystal nodded her head and Penna released her hand from Crystal, who merely shrugged. "Fine by me," she said, "but if Ben and the Fairy Godmother put me on the suspect list, then you owe me a trip to the spa until graduation!" She looked at the paper on her desk. "So a table for too for VIPs only with a folding screen to give you privacy and our special Friday menu?"

"Wait, how come you work here?" Penna asked. "I thought Ben allowed the treasury to provide the VKs with an allowance, including the royal ones."

"What's a VK?" Bug Fly asked. "A form of disability?"

"How I wish," Crystal rolled her eyes. "To answer your question, uh..." Crystal frowned at Penna. "What am I supposed to call you?"

"Viper Eyes and him Bug Fly." Penna frowned when she saw Crystal giggling in amusement. "What now?"

"Nothing," Crystal snorted. "Just that... Abbreviate 'Bug Fly' and you get the abbreviation for 'boyfriend'!" Crystal's comment made Penna blush in embarrassment when she realized her accidental mistake. "Oh, and to answer your question _Viper Eyes_ , my dad managed to convince Ben and the others that even though I'm not living with anymore, I'm still grounded of my allowance until the Goblin New Year." Crystal crossed her arms and pouted. "You go to a boarding school overseas and you still have to work to make a living!"

"I hate to interrupt your...disturbing paternal relationship, but about that table?" Bug Fly said politely.

"Oh, yeah!" Crystal uneasily clasped her hands together. "I _can_ get you the private table and all, but it's karaoke and comedy night and since it's rude for the audience to ignore the people on stage, the folding screen won't be available."

"Great!" Penna pinched her nose in frustration. "Now _how_ the Hell can I go inside a restaurant with my friend without people running at the sight of me?"

"Glad you asked." Crystal snapped her fingers, making a crystal ball appear in her fingers.

 _Minutes later_

Crystal's 'miraculous' solution was to have them wear costumes that would pass them off as normal citizens, which meant using wigs, big shirts for tucking wings, gloves, and toe-covering boots. Positively speaking, they had their table and weren't bothered by the other customers.

"This is fun but uncomfortable," Bug Fly said while stretching the collar of his grey baggy sweatshirt. Add in the green gym pants, brown running boots, black leather gloves, sunglasses, and grey baseball cap on top of a black side parted wig, he looked like a hip hop lover. Meanwhile, Penna looked uncomfortable in her long, brick red wig, black trench coat dress that reached her ankles, and black high-heeled shoes.

"This is definetly Embarrassing Moment #5," Penna grumbled. "I'm wearing a red wig."

"Positively speaking, we'll be able to have a nice dinner together," he reassured her as he put a napkin on his lap. Bug Fly then looked up and saw Penna briefly pulling down her sunglasses to give him an uneasy look. "Is something wrong?"

"Sorry..." She put her accessory back on. "It's just...I never exactly had a two-person meal with a...member of the opposite gender. Or even socialized with. My father never let me..."

"Oh." He looked at her with sincere pity. "I remember you said that he was quite unloving. Just how horrible is he?"

"How horrible he _was_. He's dead now, but my memories of him still haunt me." She rested her hands on the table and flipped them over so that he could see her palms. At first, they looked normal to the human eye, but when Bug Fly had a closer look, he saw that the veins were wrestling with one another like tangled vines, and when he pressed a thumb on each palm, he could actually feel the veins _agitate_ like boiling water. "There's good people everywhere in Auradon, but then there's also bad people, and my father was among the second category. And the thing is...depending on who your parents are or were, everybody assumes or expects that you'll turn out just like them. My father...was among the people who assumed that I'd end up just like him: a terrible person. So, after nobody gave me the benefit of the doubt, I gave up trying to be good and just let myself be evil. Now I just regret my mistake..." She looked down at the cloth filled with smiling crab designs that covered the table as memories of her past taunted her mind again.

Bug Fly solemnly caressed her skin with his thumbs as he held her hands in his, calming her down a little. "My father used to be a villain in the past..." He spoke up and got her attention. "He almost sounds like yours now that I think about it: he tried to destroy love because he thought it was dangerous and would create chaos by destroying, weakening, and rotting order. He even tried destroying primrose flowers..."

"Ugh, I wouldn't blame him." Penna shuddered. "I hate pink."

"I know, right? Way too bright and stereotypically girly!" Bug Fly shuddered as well. "But while he seemed villainous to others, my father's actions made sense: in our world, primroses are used to make love potions, but when he tried to use the potion and it didn't work, he tried to destroy love and the potion because he didn't want others to end up heartbroken like him. He...incorrectly believed it's because he was too hideous to love, even with a love potion. Most of my...appearance comes from him, a goblin, while the rest of my DNA is from my mother, a fairy. So..." He shrugged. "Some people just don't know who I'll end up as the most, but personally I like to think that I'm like each of them equally." He held her hands a bit more tightly. "Your father might have been evil and your mother might have been hopefully better than him, but that doesn't mean you have to pick which one of them you have to follow on the most. You're still their daughter but you're someone else unique in the middle who decides how she wants to lead her life on. You and other people can keep saying how horrible you are, but when I see that look in your eyes and the way you've been stepping up, I can tell you really are that someone else."

Penna blinked in amazement at Bug Fly's speech. Was that how he honestly saw her? _You're still their daughter but you're someone else unique in the middle who decides how she wants to lead her life on_. He really thought that she could be whoever she wanted to be while accepting her heritage at the same time? _When I see that look in your eyes and the way you've been stepping up, I can tell you really are that someone else._

They heard some sniffing and saw Crystal trying to hold back tears as she carried a tray full of food. "That is by far _the most romantic_ thing I've ever heard..." she whimpered.

"Just serve the food," they both said flatly. They parted their hands in order to make way for the clam dish and Caesar salads that they ordered.

"Oh, by the way, the karaoke will soon be starting!" Crystal quickly gave them their drinks as she rushed off. The lights in the restaurant turned to the small stage and the audience clapped when they saw Dusk Shimmer speaking on the microphone.

"Thank you all for letting the St Luther karaoke club perform at the Sebastian Groove Bar on this lovely evening," she said while gesturing to the members of her club. "And to thank you wonderful people, we'll let any of you pick a song for us to sing!"

"How about 'You and Me and The Beat'?" Bug Fly suggested out loud, making Penna blink at him.

"And here we go then! We'll be doing 'You and Me and The Beat' with our friend from Auradon Prep...Sirenius Dazzle!"

The customers applauded when they saw the country's beloved musician from the Isle walk up to the stage with a microphone as well. Lights dimmed down and the music led to the karaoke performance between the son of Adagio Dazzle and the daughter of Sunset Shimmer.

Sirenius: _No, you don't need a reason_

 _Just get up and dance_

 _When you turn up the music_

 _Let it blast_

Dusk: _You know we got the whole world_

 _In the palm of our hands_

 _Don't let it go_

Sirenius: _Don't let it go_

Dusk: _Don't let it go_

Both: _Cause now,_

 _You're living life out loud_

 _With your head up in the clouds_

 _Yeah it feels so right right now, now, now_

 _Hey_

 _You and me and the beat_

 _Go great together_

 _[x3]_

 _You and me and the beat go great together now_

 _Oooooooo_

 _You and me_

 _Go great together_

 _[x2]_

Dusk: _Anything can happen_

 _Any time or place_

 _From the floor to the rafters_

 _To outer space_

Sirenius: _We can move any mountain_

 _Just push the pace_

 _Just let it flow_

Dusk: _Just let it flow_

Sirenius: _Just let if flow_

Both: _Cause now,_

 _You're living life out loud_

 _With your head up in the clouds_

 _Yeah it feels so right right now, now, now_

 _Hey_

 _You and me and the beat_

 _Go great together_

 _[x3]_

 _You and me and the beat go great together now_

 _Oooooooo_

 _You and me_

 _Go great together_

 _[x2]_

Sirenius: _When we're together_

 _Somehow it works_

Dusk: _And having real friends_

 _Makes it worth it_

Both: _And in the future_

 _When we both look through that_

 _Rear view mirror_

 _We'll know_

 _We had good times_

 _You and me and the beat_

 _Go great together_

 _[x3]_

 _You and me and the beat go great together now_

 _Oooooooo_

 _You and me_

 _Go great together_

 _[x2]_


	12. Past Not Easily Forgotten

Chapter 12: Past Not Easily Forgotten

 _Believe me. You're going to be grateful that I changed you forever._

 _There is no escape this time, Fa Li Lonnie!_

 _Stubborn as my progeny, aren't you? I'll fix that when I win!_

"Lonnie! Shizi!"

Artemis managed to snap Lonnie out of her nightmare by calling her from her common name to her birth name, making her feel partially relieved to find herself next to Artemis on his bed. The only bad part was that another one of her nightmare paranoia made her sweat and nearly claw off the bed sheet she was clutching in her hand. It wasn't even dawn this Saturday and Artemis was trying to comfort his love as best as he could.

"Your nightmares are getting worse than usual," Artemis said in concern as he snapped his fingers to summon a clean tissue that he used to wipe the sweat off Lonnie's forehead.

"Artemis, why can't I get them out?" Lonnie whimpered. She cuddled her head into his chest. "As if recovering from my mark's bleeding wasn't enough, why must I deal with those dreams? They're...they're getting out of control!" Indeed, Lonnie had been plagued by nightmares that would pop out randomly ever since the Villains Comet was destroyed. One day they would come and then wait until five more days to return, preventing Lonnie from having a peaceful night in her dorm room and making Kory complain about waking up from Lonnie's screaming. The latter's only solace was spending the evening with her boyfriend. Dating the son of Nightmare Moon had its perks: the nightmares slow down a bit, leaving you some peace, yet return to plague you.

"Your experience at the battle on the Isle has given you traumatic scars," Artemis said quietly. His fingers caressed their way down Lonnie's hair as if to comb it, making her feel a bit better. "It happens to other individuals throughout their lives to get scarred with bad memories, but what you've dealt with when Voldemort tried to take over are beyond the traumatic average. Living three months after what happened won't make everything go away forever, Lonnie."

"He's gone, right?" Lonnie asked apprehensively. "Usually you can see people's memories and dreams until they die, right?"

"True, but the only other way aside from death that I can't see others' minds are when they try to shield their brain cells from dream-hoppers like Penna did, which keeps me from seeing what's going on in her head. So...either Voldemort is stuck in the limbo or he's missing."

"God, I hope it's the first one!" Lonnie began to stress until Artemis calmed her down with a gentle pat on the cheek.

"Don't tell anyone about this conversation unless you want to create mayhem," Artemis advised. "I recommend you take some stress-fighting classes to gather up your inner peace."

"You think it will help?" Lonnie's head cuddled in the crook of his head, making his dark coal skin warm up. He placed a small kiss on her forehead.

"I hope so..."

 _Somewhere around lunchtime_

"And now we're going to do the crescent lunge," Feige told the members of the yoga club as they practiced their yoga in the courtyard. The sun was out nicely, making everyone want to eat outside and relax. "Hold your hand up as if to reach the sun..."

"Wow, Feige is doing a pretty good job at running the yoga club," Othello remarked while he, Jay, Audrey, Ben, and Mal were having lunch together outside right by the stone pavilions.

"Yeah, she pretty much managed to get the previous teacher happily retired." Audrey smirked. She looked back at the yoga club, who were now in a lotus position. "Huh, I just spotted Meirong Dashi, Hu Xiongmao, Cassie, and Lonnie there."

"Yeah, Meirong, Hu, and Cassie do a lot of meditation together back at St Luther because of their background and because of Meirong's," Othello cleared his throat, took a Sensei position, and spoke like a guru, " _belief that inner peace is the best way to achieve good health and a sane mind._ "

Jay snorted and the others chuckled. "What?" Othello said. "Not my fault if Meirong is a version of her dad in a dress!" This only made the others laugh harder.

"Sup, boyfriend?" Othello got hugged in the back by a seventeen-year-old Caucasian in a black and white backless gothic shirt, grey jeans, black biker boots, and lemon blond hair that was tied up in a waist-long majestic ponytail. Her main accessories were an orange purse with the sewn black letters KISS THE ARTIST and a dark umbrella she kept open as if to block the sunlight from her already pale skin.

"You got a girlfriend as well?" Jay asked Othello.

"Yep. Guys, this is Épique Vamp, my girlfriend. Épique, those are Jay, Audrey, Mal, and Ben. OK, technically you already know Audrey from the baking contest and Ben, well, he's the king." Othello introduced them.

"Bloody nice to meet ya, mates!" Épique shook hands with Mal and Audrey one at a time with quite some speed and strength, their arms nearly ripped off. She then sat next to Othello. "Deadset be told, Othello has been talking big mobs about you guys!"

"Uh...And what's the English translation?" Mal frowned. Épique looked deadpan at the daughter of Maleficent. "I speak Aussie English, mate." Mal still looked confused. "Australian."

"OOOOOOH," Mal realized. "Sorry. Usually the only one I hear talking with an Australian accent is Diego Harkness."

"Oy, I met him. He comes good," Épique shrugged before turning back to Othello. "You had a dingo's breakfast, right?" She pointed at all the two hamburgers and fries Othello had taken from the cafeteria.

"Sharing a room with Barkin Jr is the _worst_ experience I've dealt with so far in Auradon Prep. The guy won't stop waking me up at four in the morning with his trumpet military fanfare and making me eat some of his saltine crackers! I hate crackers!" Othello snapped at the sky. He then asked Épique: "Who did they stick you with?"

"Frieda, but she's ace. You know, as batty chicks and all."

"Speaking of batty, when is Coach Sabertooth passing out those sign-up sheets you were hoping for?"

"She's starting to pass them around. I'm just about to give it a burl. See ya at dinner." She pecked Othello on the cheek before getting back up and making her way into the courtyard. "Nice meeting ya, mates!"

"So... _that's_ your girlfriend?" Jay asked Othello. "Who are her parents?"

"Her dad is Spike the vampire and her mom is unknown," Othello said as he finished his burgers. "Épique and I were already going to St Luther since we were kids, but we only _officially_ met one another in fifth grade after I severely scratched my arm when I was playing soccer in the parking lot with my friends and she sucked out the contaminated blood. That's how we started our relationship and how Épique began to be interesting in learning how to become a blood donation nurse."

"A vampire as a blood donation nurse?" Ben said. "That's something that never occurred to me."

"And what were those papers that Épique was talking about?" Audrey asked.

"Oh, those were sign-up sheets for any female student interested in participating in the Pride Showcases in a couple weeks..."

"OH, NO! I HAVE TO SIGN UP!" Audrey jerked up and accidently spilled her drink onto Mal's plate as the former made a run for it to find Shari Sabertooth.

"I didn't know that Audrey wanted to do the Pride Showcases as well," Othello told curiously to Jay, who merely shrugged in confusion.

"What are Pride Showcases?" Mal asked.

"They were originally known as _Pokemon Showcases_ until they were used to be a part of the Pride Games," Ariel Bartok, who just happened to be passing by, joined them when she heard them talking about the Showcases. "They originally started as an annual competition in a region in France called Kalos, where girls performed with their Pokemon on stage through a two stage performance that led to the final Showcase of Master Class, where the winner became Kalos Queen and a big figure in pop sensation."

"But then when the Pride Games came in, an event was created based on the Pokemon Showcases, only in this case the Showcases only took place among two competing schools during the Pride Games. For instance, the Pride Showcases events of the 1st and 3rd Pride Games took place at St Luther and the 2nd and the current one here in Auradon Prep," Ben explained. "Unlike the original versions, the Pride Showcases consist of three themed performances, one free style performance, and the final performance that reveals who wins the title of Pride Queen."

"And the thing is, whoever was the Pride Queen in the previous Pride Games as to challenge the finalist to defend the title, and not only does the winner become Pride Queen, but she also wins the opportunity of winning the career of model, actor, or any form of celebrity!" Ariel said excitedly.

"That sounds fun," Mal said. "So, who's the current Pride Queen?"

"Melody, the mermaid pop sensation herself!" Ben said. "She used to be one of the alumni at Auradon Prep when it first started competing in the Pride Games. She was sixteen when she participated in the First Pride Showcases and earned the title of Pride Queen, which is how she began her career in singing and performing!"

"Melody used to go to Auradon Prep?" Othello said. "That's pretty amazing!"

"Not as amazing as her performances being created by just Water-type Pokemon!" Ariel squealed. "None of the other Pride Showcases finalists have been able to steal her title, and her Vaporeon is _so cute_!"

"So let me get this straight: it's a pageant for female Pokemon trainers only?" Mal asked.

"Yes, and it should take place a couple days before the Easter Festival," Ben said. "I wonder who will be participating."

 _A few minutes later, in the tourney field_

"You want to participate?" Ben exclaimed when they were walking by the Tourney Field and caught Minuit signing up on the papers that Shari was passing around.

"Now, Ben, there are no rules saying that the lackey of somebody who tried taking over the world can't participate," Shari said as she took Minuit's filled up sheet. "She's female, has cheerleading records, and three Pokemon. May we see them?"

"Sure, come on out!" Minuit tossed out three Pokeballs that burst open and revealed three dark or purple Pokemon.

"So cool!" Ariel pushed Ben aside so that she could have a better look at Minuit's Pokemon. "You got an Espeon, a Sableye, and a Weavile!" Espeon walked over to Ariel and rubbed its head on the palm of Ariel's hand while Shari made her way. "Oh, by the way, Audrey, did you manage to sign up?"

"I did." Audrey smiled before turning her attention to Minuit like everyone else. "But Minuit, are you sure you want to participate in the Pride Showcases?"

"It is going to be pretty challenging," Ben said. "A quarter of the country at most will be watching you perform."

"And I don't mean to sound sour," Othello added in bluntly, "but after the way you kinda played masquerade at the decathlon and how you took part with you-know-what back in January, most of the public wouldn't want you voted as Pride Queen."

"I know." Minuit said bitterly. She picked up her Sableye in her arms. The ghost-type Pokemon cuddled in her arms for a bit before climbing on top of her head and toying with her Fedora hat. Minuit sighed as she sat down on the bleachers. "Aside for making it up for what I did, I want Penna to see me win and be proud. I feel like she's distancing herself from Jessie and me ever since she met her new _friend._ Most of her latest texts are only about how she feels so appreciated for helping set up the Easter Festival and how her new friend is ' _the nicest guy on the universe who makes me feel like I'm not Voldemort's daughter_ '!"

"Minuit, it's normal for someone like Penna to make a new friend," Mal sat down next to Minuit and the others imitated her. "Heck, it happened to most of us VKs..."

"Our lives weren't like yours, Mal, where everyone believed you during your reformation! Almost everyone hated Jessie and me once they learned we were connected to Penna, but they didn't know how much she bothered to raise us unlike our neglectful parents!"

 _Flashback_

 _It was raining like Australian showers on the Isle of The Lost sixteen years ago. Villains were running as fast as they could through the muddy streets to get back inside their lousy homes. Stores were closing since it was obvious no one would be coming with such weather. Meanwhile, at the end of one of the Malina Alleys, burglars were gathering up abandoned babies in carton boxes that the parents put the unwanted infants in and tossed them in the streets. Since a maximum of one eighth of the Isle's population refused to raise their own offspring, the abandoned babies were thrown into streets where burglars would collect them and sell them off to the Candy Witch, the only villainess on the Isle they knew they could extract a large amount of money from by selling meat baby to her._

 _The burglars were just about to leave with their wagon full of a dozen crying babies until a cloaked figure blocked their path. "Hey, moron!" One of the burglars shouted. "Get out of the way!"_

 _"Show some respect, Muggle!" A pythonaconda emerged out of nowhere and began to threaten the burglars, who hugged each other in fright as they saw how obedient the snake was to the hooded figure, which could only mean one thing._

 _"Have mercy on us, Lady De Mort!" they begged. "We're only doing our job!"_

 _"A sick job if you ask me," Penna De Mort said as she walked towards the wagon, specifically at the back where the babies where held. "I'm looking for the daughter of Midnight Sparkle and I heard that the alicorn bitch abandoned her baby in the streets. Clearly you thugs must have collected a purple-skinned baby along the way..."_

 _Without a reply, the leader of the burglars went to look through the cartons of crying babies until he pulled a carton with a crying baby in it. The baby in question had purple skin and colorful black and magenta hair with pointed stars in it._

 _"Take the brat," the burglar said. "I'd rather lose a few twenty rusted coins than deal with that vermin."_

 _"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?" Penna De Mort snorted. The burglars made their way as fast as they could while Penna, in the meantime, flew back to Mt Vesuvius with the baby in her arms. A couple minutes later, the bay had been changed in more comfortable clothing and was resting on Penna's lap while the latter sat on a chair by her castle's main fireplace and fed the little thing with a baby feeding formula specially prepared by Bloodyle._

 _"Well somebody's enjoying her little herbal milk formula, isn't she?" Penna tickled her on the belly, making the baby giggle and spill some milk on her face._

 _"_ By the way, Penna, what are you going to name her?" _Bloodyle asked._ " _Otherwise I'm just going to keep calling her 'Hey, there!'" She and Penna chuckled at the joke._

 _"Her name's Minuit," Penna De Mort answered. "Because that's the time right now."_

 _Five or six years had passed since Minuit's adoption, and while there were times when raising Minuit irritated Penna, it didn't stop her from adoring the child and raising her as her own while the latter shared the mutual feeling and kept showering Penna with loyalty and Mother's Day cards._

 _"So I heard you dyed Evie's hair green, you kicked Charles Frollo into a pile of mud, you broke into the teachers' room to ruin everyone's test answers, and you spray-painted the word 'MOLEficent' on Maleficent's house," Penna said crossly to Minuit after the former received a call that was more like a scream from one of the Huns when Minuit was six. Minuit tried a puppy pout until Penna hugged her and affectionately pinched her cheek. "You are SO evil!"_

 _End of flashbacks, return to reality_

"Yeah, I definetly remember my mom screaming when she caught you spray-painting 'MOLEficent'," Mal chuckled. "That was the only thing I didn't hate about you back then."  
"Ah, good times..." Minuit sighed happily. She summoned her Pokemon back to their balls and went back to the topic. "Point is, before and after Jessie joined the family, I was so used to being raised and pampered by Penna since my mom Midnight Sparkle threw me in the streets when I was a baby."

"That's horrible!" Othello exclaimed. "Why did your mom do that?"

"That's what happens when you're a magical force created from the soul of a girl corrupted by a magic pendant and since your body is still molecularly unstable, you make a deal with Penna De Mort, who's able to calm down your molecules so that you can give labor properly, but since you agreed to let the kid be Penna's servant in exchange for the favor, you assume that the kid is no longer your responsibility and toss it in the street!" Minuit clenched her fists at the thought. "Hours after Midnight Sparkle tossed me in the street, Penna came back to check on me."

"Weren't you supposed to be in her custody anyway?" Ariel also sat down next to Minuit.

"No, I was supposed to _serve_ her, not _live_ with her. It meant that I was able to live with my mom but I had to commit in serving Penna. So when she found out Midnight Sparkle tossed me in the streets as an eight-hours-old infant because she thought Penna's new lackey was no longer her business, Penna got ticked since the scenario totally reminded her of our Voldemort tossed her into the basilisks' nest and let the guys do the job."

"Sure, because there's no better way to raise a kid by throwing her into a snake nest where the snakes are big enough to swallow her whole." Othello rolled his eyes in sarcasm.

"I'm sorry I didn't know," Audrey told Minuit sincerely. "I'm sure you'll make Penna proud when she sees you perform!"

"You're right! I better get practicing! The Pride Showcases will be in a couple weeks!" She ran off and texted on her phone at the same time.

"Minuit, texting and running are..." Ben's word got cut off when Minuit accidently tripped down the bleachers. "Unsafe." Fortunately, she didn't break any bones.

"I do hope Penna is not having any similar issues," Mal said.

 _Somewhere in the afternoon_

Surprisingly, Mal's hope was affirmative. Penna _was_ having a grand time.

All day, she spent her time helping out in Green Grove for the Easter Festival without anything falling apart because of her stupid problem. And the people around her were awfully nice to the point where she began to wonder how she never knew the existence of the only people in the universe who didn't know the existence of Voldemort.

"Stage set up, check," Bug Fly and Penna went through the list together in the small office he had in his tent. "Preparation of the flyers, check. Messengers on hand, check. Prepared stands, check. We'll need to worry about the food and the decorations. Kit! Junk!"

The twins rushed inside the tent. "Yes, boss?" they asked at the same time.

"Did my parents send those flower seeds as I asked?" Bug Fly asked.

"Delivered and planted, boss!" Kit said in conformation. "As we are talking right now, we have elves and hybrids prepared for picking the newly bloomed flowers. Shall we have them start?"

"Are you mad?" Bug Fly glared Kit sternly. "Starting picking flowers without me? You know I like picking flowers!"

"Right, I forgot about your _girly_ hobby! I'll let them know to wait," Kit giggled as she left the tent, leaving Penna speechless and Bug Fly to massage his temples in frustration on his desk.

"Should I...go check on what the party organizers are considering for food?" Junk volunteered.

"Do that and make sure Bruno doesn't eat the entire food supply," Bug Fly muttered. Junk nodded and left Bug Fly and Penna alone.

"You...really take your job seriously," Penna aid, rather stunned by how ambitious Bug Fly seemed to be.

"Do tell." Bug Fly sat upstraight in is chair. "I usually handle community events pretty well, but this is my first time handling an international event and I need to show my parents that I'm seriously responsible as they decide to pass on their title to me."

"Are they important social figures?" she asked curiously.

"They're more like...aristocratic land owners." Bug Fly tried to find the right words that wouldn't reveal he was expected to become the ruler of an entire kingdom in a few months. "With their actions as philanthropist, community evolved members of the royal court, I really look up to them as my role models. While I do try do things my way, I take inspiration from them."

"Lucky," Penna said enviously while admired the colorful flowers placed in a stone vase near the tent's sole mirror. One of them in particular, a closed purple flower, caught Penna's attention. "That purple flower is so lovely...It's better than all the bright ones."

"Isn't it?" Bug Fly got up and walked to the vase as well. He took a deep sniff of pleasure at the purple flower. "It's a Night Violet, my home's most treasured flower. They grew a lot back in the Dark Forest, but now they are everywhere. My parents and I also have a garden full of it."

"How nice." Penna took a sniff of the Night Violet as well and felt entranced by its rich, fragrant scent that made Penna feel like soft mist was touching her. Bug Fly, in the meantime, picked one of each flower in the vase: a Night Violet, a daisy, a yellow poppy, a purple gladiola, a green chrysanthemum, and a red hibiscus. He then proceeded into unplucking the flowers' petals, pollen, leaves, and stems and placing them in different vials. "Uh, what are you doing?" Penna asked him.

"I also do aromatherapy," Bug Fly said as he put the vials in a cabinet full of similar vials. "Since the Fae Realm is majorly packed with growing flowers, it's common for most people, fairy, elf, or goblin, to use flowers for aromatherapy, skin oil, or perfumes. Leading charity events and swordfighting are followed by aromatherapy on my can-do list."

"So you can do magic too?" Penna covered her mouth when she realized her mistake.

"Uh, no." Bug Fly arched an eyebrow. "Aromatherapy is more of an alchemy practice used for healing purpose. Magic in the Fae Realm is only given to fairies tasked by the deities Oberon and Titania to fulfill certain duties. So... _can you_ do magic? I must admit, I'm stunned that a good majority of the people in this world have magic."

"OK, not _everyone_ has it!" Penna suddenly snapped. "Muggles are the only ones who don't have it!" She covered her mouth when she realized who really spoke. "I'm so sorry, Bug Fly! It was my bad self, not me! I mean, OH THIS IS GETTING CONFUSING!" She banged her head on a nearby table, leaving Bug Fly rather speechless.

"So...dealing with conflicting personalities is that hard?" He asked, concerned. Penna looked depressingly at him and made her way to one of the lounge chairs.

"With what my father put me through, my good and bad personalities were quite clashing," she confessed. "Initially, he ripped out my good side and locked it away in a spiritual dimension, and after my bad side has been occupying me for the next century or so, I'm always on the verge of having a concussion whenever they bicker ever since they reunited."

"Bicker?" Bug Fly sat next to her on the lounge chair. Penna flinched when she felt him sitting next to her and proceeded to biting her lip, stiffening her blood, and holding back her blushing as best as she could. He noticed her doing it. "So who reacted now? The good you or the bad you?"

"You can tell?"

"No specifically, but your body reacts." He made motions on his face. "For instance, at one part, you looked like you were stiffening a lot..."

"That's the bad Penna. She hates showing off embarrassed emotions. That's why she stiffens."

"Then you were biting your lips..."

"That's the good Penna. It's one of the habits to bite her lips every time she's afraid."

"And you were trying to hold back your blushes..."

"That's..." Penna realized. "It's both of them."

"Maybe instead of worrying on who possesses you, you should think about what your sides share in common so that it doesn't drive you nuts and make you feel balanced," Bug Fly suggested. "Here, aside from your obvious disdain for your father, what else do you _really_ like?"

Penna thought for a bit, letting memories flow her mind. A six-year-old Penna playing with Bloodyle as they made garlands out of ivy and water lilies. Penna teaching a nine-year-old Jessie and an eleven-year-old Minuit how to use flower nectar to make sticky glue and use chemicals to turn it into glue that they would intentionally stuff the juice bottles at the Isle's Smarty Mart on Halloween.

"I like flowers," Penna said.

"Luckily for you, I'm an expert at that." He took her hand and led her out of the tent. They walked for a few minutes through the rows until they reached a small patch of land where beautiful colors of all hues and saturations were blooming and growing. A dozen elves and fairy-elf hybrids were gathered with baskets, waiting for the signal to start picking flowers.

"We need enough flowers to make a maximum of 50 garlands, 250 boutonnières and corsages, 100 for vases, and 60 for glitter powder!" Bug Fly spoke to them. "Collect as many as you can and bring them to the preservation tent!"

"Right away, sir!" They all proceeded to pick all over the field. A servant gave Bug Fly a basket and he and Penna proceeded to collect flowers together.

"What's the preservation tent for?" Penna asked.

"Well, since flowers can wilt rapidly once you pick them, we use a preservation formula to keep them from wilting as long as we need them." Bug Fly sliced the stems of the flowers he collected with his sharp nails and delicately placed them in the basket. He then looked at Penna and saw her accidently withering the flowers she tried to pick. She tried to pick another one, but it withered instantly. Bug Fly paused her hand by holding it. "Fae Realm flowers are sensitive: if you worry about hurting them, then they will get hurt."

Penna took a deep breath and washed her mind off from any stressful thought. Guided by Bug Fly's hand, she picked up a nearby violet and gasped in amazement when she saw that it didn't wither. Yet...

"Why isn't it blooming?" Penna asked as she gently put it in the basket and continued picking flowers, this time following Bug Fly's advice.

"Night Violets are extremely special other than just being the current floral emblem," he explained. Once their basket was full, they left the field and made their way to the preservation tent. "It was a sacred plant venerated by goblins back when the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest were still divided. Tradition is that if a goblin gives a Night Violet to his soulmate and the Night Violet blooms once their hands touch on the stem, it is a sign that they are a meant to be."

"Does it work?" Penna asked. They gave their flowers to a bunch of fairy women, who spread the flowers on tables and carefully shook their butterfly wings over them, creating a shower of dust that formed preservation shields on the delicate petals.

"Honestly, there have been no reports of a divorce occurring to couples who touched a Night Violet together," Bug Fly said. "My father gave my mother a Night Violet and they've been happily married for more than eighteen years. I'd be shocked if the Night Violet didn't work on them. Otherwise, why would we have a field of them in our home?"

"Fairly reasonable," Penna said.

"What about Auradon?" A fairy servant perked up. "Do they have something similar for soulmates?"

"Uh..." Penna couldn't find an answer. Sure, she had seen and heard the entire mumbo jumbo of 'the power of love' and how 'true love's kiss will break any spell', but with her crap backstory on her murdered crush and the annoying Bayen Lestrange crushing on her despite the obvious disgust... "Let's just say that this is something...beyond my personal field," Penna said quietly.

They went out to the central field, where the stage was set up for musical and acting performances and a space was set up for the dancing. Bug Fly was looking at it with some excitement. "For some reason, people seem to burst into songs for random reasons back home," he said. "Then again, I don't complain. I like singing as well..." His voice trailed off when he saw Penna looking longingly at the dance floor. "Oh don't tell me that your father also forbid you to sing and dance!"

"If it was to sing about evil and how depressing my life was, he had no problem, but...meaninglessly moving in circles through physical contact with someone of the opposite gender was a no..." Bug Fly then grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dancing area. "Oh no!"

"Viper Eyes, one of the parts of living a good life is to follow the rhythm." They paused in their tracks once they were in the dancing area.

"But what if I make another mess out of it?"

Kit and Junk, who were passing in the area, made a stop when they saw what was going on. Gleefully, Kit made a run to one of the members setting the stage and whispered something in his ears. The elf-goblin hybrid nodded, sat down, and pulled out a ukulele that he began to play. The music caught Bug Fly and Penna's ears. "Hey, my uncle sings that!" Bug Fly said.

"Well, when you need help, ya need help." Kit clapped her hands in rhythm with her brother while a gospel organ joined in the ukulele.

Junk: _Don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Yo, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

He and Kit slapped their hands together.

Kit: _Don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

The twins: _Yo, cause every little thing's gonna be alright!_

Bug Fly gallantly took Penna by the hand, and the next thing she knew, he was making her twirl and making happy butterflies peck her in the stomach, encouraging her as she let Bug Fly lead her through her first dancing.

Junk: _Woke up this morning,_

The Twins: _Smiled at the rising sun._

 _And three little birds,_

 _Were pitched by my doorstep._

Kit and Junk hopped on the stage and danced while the singing and musical instruments kept going.

Kit: _They were singing sweet songs_

The twins: _Of melodies pure and true_

 _Saying 'This is my message to you.'_

Junk: _So don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Yo, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

Kit: _Oh, don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Yo, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

The twins: _It'll be alright!_

 _Hey! Yeah! Hey! Yeah!_

Junk: _Alright..._

Kit: _Alright..._

Despite it being her first time, Penna was doing and feeling amazing at dancing as she and Bug Fly continued to dance together and unexpectedly joined in on the singing.

Bug Fly: _I woke up this morning._

Penna: _I smiled at the rising sun._

The duo: _And three little birds,_

 _Were pitched by my doorstep._

Bug Fly: _They were singing sweet songs_

The duo: _Of melodies pure and true_

 _Saying 'This is my message to you.'_

Junk: _Hey, so don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Oh, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

Bug Fly: _It's gonna be alright!_

Kit: _Hey, so don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Oh, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

Penna: _It's gonna be alright!_

Bug Fly: _Hey, so don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Oh, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

Junk: _It's gonna be alright!_

Penna: _Hey, so don't worry,_

 _About a thing._

 _Oh, cause every little thing's gonna be alright._

Kit: _It's gonna be alright!_

They stopped singing and dancing. Penna could feel her heart pounding as Bug Fly held her during their final pose. Those around them were clapping.

"That...was..." The word was trying to come out of her mouth as she straightened herself up. "FUN!"

"Glad you had fun," Bug Fly said while everyone else was getting back to work. "See? Dancing isn't that horrible."

"No, it was wonderful!" Penna looked at him gratefully. "Thank you so much. I never had so much fun in my life!"

They went on with the preparations, unaware that just above Green Grove, hidden in the trees, Alma La Balba and Gladiola Trollkonge were watching the events.

"Aw, Penna and Prince Marius Bogfae are falling in love and they don't realize it the same way they don't know who the other really is!" Gladiola sighed. "How romantic!"

"And how perfect, _mi amiga_ ," Alma said. "This should work out nicely for the arrangement."

"Arrangement?"" The Troll Princess looked at the daughter of Xibalba and La Muerte. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, _mi amiga_ , that those two don't know that their ancestors, the gods Titania and Oberon for Marius and Calcifer for Penna, have made an agreement that these two will wed," Alma said.

"What? That's not right!" Gladiola exclaimed. "You can't use relationships like that for...merchandise!"

"Tell that to my parents, I'm sure they'll realize their mistake," Alma rolled her skeleton eyes in sarcasm. "You can't undo what a god decides, but right now, it's clearly obvious that Penna and the Prince will be fulfilling the agreement without realizing it."

"Who else knows about it?" Gladiola removed one of the trees' leaves from Alma's large sombrero hat.

"So far, only the gods associated to Calcifer like my parents, Titania and Oberon, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and now the Fairy Godmother," Alma said. "But what disturbs me, _mi amiga,_ is that Sugar Plum actually lied to Marius' parents about their son having to go on a trip to Auradon to establish an alliance with the humans. Her real intention was to keep her end of the deal with the fairy deities and ensure that Penna and Marius wed by the time he becomes king this summer."

"How could she?" Gladiola exclaimed in horror. "The union of two kingdoms could be jeopardized and she's forcing two individuals to wed just to please the gods? This goes against everything that my mom and dad taught me!"

"I know, _my amiga_." Alma placed her sombrero hat on the branch they were sitting on and spun it until it looked like a magical display of Auradon and the Fae Realm. The skulls dangling from the sombrero hat turned into familiar figurines that they both knew and that Alma used for her description. "Let's analyze this: one side is that Penna and Marius happily wed without knowing of the arrangement, Auradon rids itself of an ex-villainess they don't like, the Fae Realm has new rulers, Sugar Plum solves her deal, and everyone's happy. But another side is that Auradon will become suspicious of Penna's intentions while dating the prince, try to keep them apart, and inadvertently lead to a bloodshed war."

"Or," Gladiola joined in by pulling out a scrapbook and showing her details to Alma, "Penna discovers who Marius is and dumps him since she doesn't really like royalty, breaks his heart, causes Sugar Plum to be punished by the gods, and creates another mob that leads Auradon to civil war. Or they decide to not go through the arrangement and break up fairly, while both sides are unhappy. Or maybe Marius' parents won't want him to marry Voldemort's daughter. Or Penna marries Marius and ends up revealing herself as possessed by Voldemort again and usurps the Fae Realm and unleashes war on Auradon AND DESTROYS EVERYTHING!" She took a deep breath and went back to normal after she saw that she was creeping out Alma. "Sorry, I get the paranoia from my dad."

"And I thought my dad was weird." Alma turned her sombrero hat back to normal and put it back on. "In the meantime, let's just leave them be and see how things unfold."


	13. A Pimple Problem

Chapter 13: A Pimple Problem

"I want names ASAP," Shari demanded. "Who did it?"

When Ben and the others went to have lunch indoors on Sunday because of the wind outside, they saw the tables pushed so that space was made at the center. On the same space stood Shari standing next to Mr. Barkin, who had a scarf covering most of his head, and the two of them faced Jessie, Ronilda, Grinchelda, Louie King Jr, and Rita Rico.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ben asked Dusk as he and Mal sat next to Dusk and Sirenius, who've been hanging out together a lot. Disco Jam was sitting on Dusk's shoulder.

"Public alibi," Dusk rolled her eyes. "It happens everytime there's somebody pulling a prank on the faculty members."

"Right now, somebody pulled a joke on Mr. Barkin," Disco Jam said. Right when he said those words, Mr. Barkin removed his scarf and everyone freaked out when they saw that every inch of his skin was covered in pimples, moles, and popping pustules.

"Whoever is the smart guy or girl who thought it was funny to put a pimple joke juice in my coffee will be rusting away in detention!" he shouted in his sergeant attitude. "Which one of you did it?"

"Hey what makes you think it was us?" Ronilda pointed at herself and the others.

"Well let's look at the facts." Shari first went to Ronilda and Grinchelda. "You two have the most record of being in detention." She went to Rita. " _You_ broke Barkin's car seventy times." She then went to Louie King Jr. "Your music drove him nuts to the point where he had to go to the hospital after he tripped on your tuba." She finally stopped in front of Jessie. "And _you_ have a knack of doing offensive pranks."

"I prefer defining them as _sophisticated_ pranks," Jessie said indignantly. "I'm civilized enough to do something better than a lame joke like pimple joke juice!"

"Yeah, pimple joke juice _does not_ sound like Jessie Joker." Noir nodded.

"And that's coming from the kids who suffered her jokes for fourteen years," Jay agreed. An approval murmur was heard from most of the VKs.

"Rabid rats in the spa." Hannah South shivered.

"Mud leaking from the ceiling," Evie said.

"Pushing me in a well," Charles said.

"Explosive tar in my locker," Proserpine joined in. The examples went on.

"Laughing gas in gym class."

"Church bell landing in your car."

"Exploding microwaves with metal."

"Alright, we get the point!" Shari snapped. "Jessamine Quinzelle is therefore declared innocent! You are now released!"

"Why is Jessie called 'Jessamine Quinzelle'?" Dusk asked Ben and Mal while Jessie went to sit next to Minuit.

"Turns out that she has two birth certificates," Mal explained. "Her parents bickered over who gets to write down her birth certificate and they each ended up filling the papers at the same time in different areas of the hospital. So of course, it was a pain in the neck because one parent called her 'Jessie Joker' and the other called her 'Jessie Quinn'. Most people went with the first since Jessie is quite the lunatic like her dad, but since she calmed down on her craziness ever since she moved to Auradon, the authorities decided to give her a...more sane name for her passport."

"After all, Jessie's mom was a psychiatrist before the Joker made her go cuckoo." Sirenius did the twirling finger by his temple. Meanwhile, the other four suspects were being forced to sit in aligned chairs while Rookie Skipper, with a white judge wig and a mallet, sat alone on a table facing them. Shari and Mr. Barkin sat down with paper pads and a fifteen-year old flaxen skinned girl with grey and black hair fashioned à la mode Frankenstein's bride held up with a duck-with-a-hat hair clip, red poncho, purple blue-feather patterned turtleneck, purple layered skirt, and purple riding boots, joined the scene by standing next to the suspects.

"I hereby call this court session open!" Rookie slammed the table with his mallet. "Our victim here, Mr. Steven Barkin, has fallen under the prank of somebody's pimple joke juice! Detective Mallard, proceed into examining the evidence!"

"Right away, your honor!" the girl caught a hold of Rita Rico's chair with her food and pulled it into the center. She proceeded to blare a flashlight at Rita. "Mr. Barkin left his office at around 8:30am to go for his mani-pedi," Mallard said ominously. "When he came around 11am, the first thing he did was make himself a cup of nice decaf coffee with cream in it. After taking two good sips, _this_ is what happened to him!" More people shivered when they saw Mr. Barkin's face again while Mallard continued to interrogate Rita. "So, where were you between 8:30am and 11am?"

Rita blabbered something in gibberish and did a series of gestures: her clenched fists forward and the right one making a circular motion, then straightening her arms and legs while her mouth made a 'Vroom! Vroom!' sound before being followed by Rita bouncing on her chair and making a falling pose before getting back up and laughing. Everyone looked dumbfounded and blinked in confusion.

"So...what's the translation in English?" Mal asked.

"Rico's saying that she took a wrench and unscrewed the screws on roller-skaters and watched as the owner fell off while riding them down the road," Rookie translated.

"That's mean!" Evie exclaimed. "Why did she do that?"

"Because Rico's too cheap to buy screws from the hardware store with all the cash she's got in her guts!" Rookie looked at Rita, who nodded and spit out a bunch of dollar bills held together with a rubber band until they formed the size of a shoebox. "You disgust me, mate! Remember what happened to Manfredi and Johnson after they failed to buy the right screws before they got hit by those monster trucks?"

"Oy, again with Manfredi and Johnson!" Ronilda raised her arms in the air in exasperation. "Why did this guy ever leave Antarctica?"

"Rita Rico is declared innocent! Moving on!" Mallard declared. Rita got up and went to sit next to Genny and Secret while Grinchelda was pulled to the center.

"What were you..." Mallard began.

"I was ruining Chad Charming's hair gel," Grinchelda said bluntly while she filed her green nails. "In fact, he should be screaming in three...two...one..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The doors burst open and Chad Charming burst in screaming like a hysterical old lady, which seemed to fit him very well since his hair was now a pale platinum blonde color and dried upward, making him look like he got electrified. People laughed at the sight of him.

"Chad, what happened?" Ben asked, unable to hide his laughing.

"SOMEONE SWITCHED MY CHARMING HAIR TONIC WITH THIS JUNK!" Chad tossed his yellow bottle of hair tonic at the table. Disco Jam was the first to uncork it and grimace at the scent before glaring at Grinchelda.

"Grinchelda, the rest of the Troll Teens and I have _constantly_ begged you to stop using our hair gel for your pranks!"

"Oh, not again!" Gladiola also came in to take a sniff as well, along with Smitten, Petite, Glows Ruby, Fuzzbert Junior, Chandler, Glows Ruby, Gossamer, and Fabric. All of them grimaced at the scent.

"She even mixed it with car oil!" Glows Ruby spat in disgust. "That is so gross!"

"I'm even surprised _you_ couldn't smell it!" Gladiola told Chad in disbelief before going back to her words. "No, wait, then again, you are pathetic..."

Chad looked humiliated while everyone else laughed. Jessie got up and gave Grinchelda a $20 bill. "Classic!" she congratulated the latter.

"Hey, he called me hairy and green and said I should shave!" Grinchelda said matter-of-factly. "Now that he's got Einstein's hairstyle, maybe he'll have more brains to do it!" The two pranksters high-fived one another.

"Alright!" Mr. Barkin said, making everyone shut up. "Rico and Whovier have confirmed they're innocent..."

"Innocent?" Chad exclaimed. "Have you seen my hair?"

"Yes, and it makes me feel better about my pimples," Barkin said indifferently. "But for putting at risk the health of an individual, you ladies are both going to detention this afternoon!"

"You want me to bring the Nogoff?" Grinchelda asked casually as she got up.

"Yes, along with your mother's special Who Pudding. Did she send you any?"

"A whole box," Grinchelda winked at him. Ben and Mal looked at Dusk. "Hey, detention is like a second home for most of my classmates!" She raised her hands in defense."

"What were you doing before the accident occurred?" Mallard asked Louie King Junior, who turned off the loud music playing on his headphones designed with smiley faces.

"Getting to know the other monkey fellow from Auradon Prep," Louie King Junior said. "It did not end well..."

"Did he provoke you with Tai Shing Pek Kwar?"

"What? No! Turns out that his martial art skills have inspired me for my next dance routine!" He winked and smiled at Mallard, who just stared at him, making Louie King Junior clear his throat and get serious. "I, um, accidently petrified him with my headphones' loud music." He pointed at one of the farthest tables: Martin Fiske was petrified, his hair messier than usual, and his eyes wide open as if he had been chased by Amelia. Ruby was padding his head with an ice sack while Gilliard was poking him on the arm and trying to see if Martin was still alive.

"King, we'll have to confiscate those headphones until we get validation that Monkey Boy's still alive." Rookie made a hand gesture that made Louie King Junior sigh and hand over his headphones to the 'judge'. "And now for Stoppable..."

"She was with me and Morgan doing scrapbooking, your Honor!" Gladiola raised her hand.

"Gladiola!" Ronilda and Mallard, whose name was Morgan, exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm defending you with the truth!" Gladiola persisted. "And since you ran off crying afterwards, I had to finish the scrapbooking for you. I...did have to use paper from that sketchbook under your bed..."

Ronilda burst off her seat and literally ripped off one of the chair's legs and twisted it to look like a poker. She held it like a club and began to run after Gladiola, who was screaming for her life.

" **YOU GLITTER-HEADED TROLL! IT WAS YOU WHO DESTROYED MY DIARY!** " Ronilda screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran after Gladiola and tried to swing her poker at her. " **WAIT UNTIL I SLICE OFF YOUR HAIR IN RETALIATION!** "

"I'M SORRY!" Gladiola was screaming as they got out of the building.

"Should we go after Ronilda?" Sirenius asked Dusk.

"Nah, she's done this multiple times to Gladiola and Gladiola has more energy than Ronilda. After several minutes of running, Ronilda will tire out and tell Gladiola she's sorry." Dusk shrugged and winked at Disco Jam.

The doors burst open. A Caucasian girl with long, frizzled ginger red hair, a beige turtleneck with strange circle symbols, a brown plaid skirt, and matching knee high boots, came bursting in angrily with a pair of broken inline skates. "Alright, Rita, I know you're the one who messed up my skates! I had to pay more than 90 bucks just to get them fixed!" She exclaimed in a Greek accent that trailed off when she saw that the cafeteria was set up like a court. "Oh. Did I miss something?"

"No, not really, Koutí," Shari said with a snicker. "Unless you count Barkin getting his skin ruined by pimple joke juice..."

Koutí covered her mouth in horror when she saw Barkin's face. "Pimple joke juice...Oh no...I must have accidently left it in Mr. Barkin's office!"

 _Minutes later_

Mr. Barkin was relieved when Koutí Epimetheus gave him the herbal lotion he needed to get rid of the pimple joke juice. Now all he needed was some rest in his room and not touch his face for the next six hours.

"So let me get this straight," Proserpine told Koutí while they walked with Mal and Audrey down the hallway until they went outside to the locker area specially reserved for the St Luther students during the Pride Games. "Your parents are Pandora and Epimetheus and they, along with the godly authorities, entrusted you with guarding the seven sins?" She pointed at a jewelry box Koutí was carrying in her arms like a baby. The lid of the box had a painting of Prometheus getting his liver chewed off by an eagle.

"Well it's not like they were going to dunk the only miseries my parents could recapture on the Isle." Koutí said.

"Fair enough."

"But since my mom still has curiosity issues and I'm more sane than her, I have to keep an eye of the seven sins." Koutí unlocked her locker, which was full of school supplies and a series of boxes of all sizes and colors.

"Wow, that's a lot of boxes!" Audrey said.

"Yeah, I prefer to shop for boxes rather than shoes." Koutí put her box behind a row of shoeboxes and package boxes. "There, that way no one will find it!"

"Does it ever happen when someone tries to steal it?" Mal asked.

"Have you _met_ Gluttony?" Koutí asked her. "His stench is made to revolt you with your most despised odor. My folks and I had to get our nostrils clogged with wax so that we can still breathe but not smell Gluttony." The other girls shivered at the thought of dealing with their least favorite stenches.

"So what was this thing about pimple joke juice?" Mal asked.

"Oh, right." Koutí explained the whole thing to them as they took a walk around campus now that it was sunny out. "See, in order to make sure that the sins don't go insane while they're in my box, I have to take each of them out once a day for seven minutes before they have to go back in the box. To make sure that they don't go destroy stuff outside, I apply specific joke juices on them to keep them calm. Sundays is when I have to take Lust out, so I have to apply pimple joke juice to leash him down. He's _very_ concerned about his appearance, you know."

"But then how did the pimple joke juice end up in Mr. Barkin's coffee?" Proserpine asked.

"Well, I...was kind of in a rush because I had to bring in a sign up sheet for the Pride Games roller-skating to Mr. Barkin's office, and since I was taking care of Lust at the same time...I accidently left the pimple joke juice on his desk and he must have mistaken it for cream..."

"Ouch," Mal and Proserpine agreed. They walked near Malevia Village, which was occupied a bit by VKs enjoying the nice weather to talk about homework and all.

"So you're good at roller-skating?" Audrey asked Koutí in curiosity.

"You bet! That's why I want to take part in the roller-skating event of the Pride Games!" Koutí said in determination. "By the way, is it true that you and Minuit Sparkle are going to be in the Pride Showcases in two weeks?"

"Yeah, turns out that there will be 135 contestants overall this year..." Audrey's voice trailed off and she began to rub her fingers in anxiety. "My mom couldn't participate in the Pride Showcases because she wasn't in high school during the first Pride Games, and everytime I see Melody performing in the audience during the Pride Showcases and her concerts, making everyone so happy..." Mal put a comforting hand on Audrey's shoulder.

"You'll do great, Audrey," Mal reassured her. "You're the captain of the cheerleading squad at Auradon Prep. You can do it!"

Audrey smiled at her, feeling better.

"But you'll need to watch out for the competition and make it through the three themed performances if you want to make it to the freestyle performance," Proserpine said. "Minuit aside, do you know who the other competitors are?"

"Minuit aside, I know there will be Evie, Darcy Fae and Charlie Chikwondo from the cheer squad, Gitane, Crystal Maze, Eleanor, Lonnie, Hannah South, Feige, Aspra Vulpine, Sharon Paon Lei and...that's all I can name," Audrey answered.

"I do know some of the girls from St Luther who will be participating," Koutí said helpfully. "There will be Grinchelda, Diamond Echidna, Maligna Trixie, Hermia Bartok, Meirong Dashi, Gladiola, Paena Maui, Glows Ruby, Gossamer, Regina Kelsi, Hamida Let, Cassie, Mina, Tulip Cheldorado, and some others I can't remember. You're gonna have to watch out since a good deal of them now acrobatics and agility very well, which could cost you during the freestyle performance."

"Really?" Audrey now got nervous.

"Let's get over the facts: Diamond and Tulip are the daughters of expert treasure hunters, so stealth and agility are second nature. Since magical transformations are allowed during the freestyle performances, Paena has the advantage of using the magic fishhook her dad Maui gave her. Maligna, Cassie, Hermia, and Mina are members of the St Luther cheerleading squad and Hermia has the advantage of being a professional circus trapeze artist. Along with great kung fu moves, Meirong is also good at making Pokepuffs, which I heard will be a part of the themed performances. Regina is a total expert at stage performing and actually managed to win three Pokemon Contest ribbons, and the same goes to Hamida. Grinchelda moves too much and, who are we kidding, Glows Ruby, Gossamer, and Gladiola are Trolls! Singing, dancing, magical hair, and fairy-type Pokemon are their specialties!"

"Eesh, you people mean business!" Proserpine was shocked.

"But seriously, Audrey, if you want to make it to the finals and challenge Melody for the title of Pride Queen, Gladiola's going to be your biggest rival," Koutí warned. "Impeccable choreography, delicious Pokepuffs, great relationship with her Pokemon, and her ways of making people smile are _unimaginable!_ Come to think of it, who are your Pokemon?"

Audrey answered by pulling out two Pokeballs and releasing two creatures. "An Altaria and a Riolu..." Koutí looked unimpressed. "Very cute, but Gladiola has a Sylveon, a recently evolved Florges, and her strongest Pokemon she had since forever: Kirlia."

"Isn't Kirlia a psychic Pokemon?" Proserpine asked.

"It's part Psychic, part Fairy. Point is, Gladiola has had Kirlia ever since she started training Fairy-types. So, minus the fact that she has the type advantage over your Pokemon and the experience, you'll need to step up your game, Audrey."

They walked down Malevia Village until they stopped by Penna's house to see Penna uprooting the thorns growing in her garden and tossing them on a pile that Mina burned with a makeshift plasma flamethrower. "Uh, Penna?" Mal asked. "What are you doing?"

"Gardening," Penna said casually. Her answer startled them: it wasn't about the part of Penna De Mort actually gardening, but the fact that she made it sound as casual as a teenager girl telling her mom that she was going to hang out with her friends after school.

"Exactly," Proserpine said. " _What_ are you doing?"

"I thought I told I was gardening." Naga came slithering in with a garden fork in her mouth and let Penna take it out, using it to dig straight lines onto the soil big enough to dip a finger in there. Mina turned off her flamethrower once she had reduced the thorns into flames.

"So how was the setting up for the Easter Festival?" Koutí asked Penna as the latter pulled out a bag full of seeds and began to gently place them in each soil row. "I know it's rude to eavesdrop, but I overheard Minuit mentioning you helping out there. Ooh, did you meet the prince?"

"No, and I'm grateful! Going back home and leaving everyone to do the work for him labels his arrogance," Penna muttered.

"Ooh, speaking of arrogant princes, Chad Charming finally got his bad hair day!" Proserpine snapped her fingers and laughed. "Grinchelda made him look like Albert Einstein!"

"The same insult strikes again!" Mina pulled out a blue agenda out of her pocket and flipped through the pages. "Who betted on the end of March?"

"I think it was you," Koutí said.

"Yes!" Mina exclaimed and put her agenda back in her pocket. "Felindra owes me 50 bucks!"

"Wait, you guys keep betting money on who does pranks when?" Audrey asked.

"Mostly with Grinchelda, especially when there's the occasional jerk who makes the mistake of calling her hairy and green and telling her that she needs to shave." Koutí rolled her eyes. "These people _still_ don't understand that this kind of insult is the reason that led Grinchelda's dad to steal Christmas!"

"Huh. Good thing this kind of betting didn't go around on the Isle, otherwise Jessie's daily pranks would have made everyone bankrupted," Penna remarked. She covered the seed filled areas with soil while Mina sprinkled some of the ash over them to act as a fertilizer.

"By the way, where did you get those seeds?" Audrey asked. Her question made Penna stiffen.

"Come on, Penna!" Mina teased Penna by poking her on the back with her elbow.

"My...new friend gave them to me," she said stiffly.

"The same new friend who asked you if you could see each other again next Wednesday after classes are over?" Mina teased her again while the other girls made an 'ooh' sound.

"Aw, Penna, that's so sweet!" Audrey sighed.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Penna exclaimed in defense. "He's just a good friend."

"What's his name?" Koutí asked.

"I don't know his name and he doesn't know mine." Her answer made Koutí, Audrey, Mal, and Proserpine speechless. Mina explained it for them. "There doing this deal of not telling each other who they really are until they have established a mutual and trusting friendship by a certain date."

"Oh, the same way Cinderella and Prince Charming didn't know who was who until the entire glass slipper fitness!" Audrey clapped her hands in excitement.

"Or like how my mother didn't know my father was Hades until after she got pregnant," Proserpine muttered.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that things will work out for you," Mal told Penna. "In the meantime, how are you feeling about the Potion-crafting event tomorrow?"

The daughter of Voldemort took a deep breath. "As long as I don't get carried away by my dark side wanting to make poisonous potions or terrified by the reformees that want to kill me, I should be fine."

"And if people start mobbing you, I'll have my dehydration gun as backpack!" Mina offered.

"Mina! You know that you've been told a gazillion times that you shouldn't go around dehydrating people!" Koutí exclaimed.

"There's only two things that I'm worried about," Penna confessed to Mal. "They decide in advance who will have to craft which potions, and I dread the possibility of having to craft a love potion. Mal, you know I can't make love potions!"

"Don't worry, I'll double-check with Ben to see that it doesn't happen." Mal nodded. "What's the second?"

Penna shivered. "Mandrake roots. I...have a severe allergy on them. Voldemort was able to ensure that he could control me when I misbehaved by forcing me that allergy. I get unconscious and hallucinations at the same time..."

"Guess that explains why you always drank a vial of melted basilisk scales juice before stepping into the Botanical Biochemistry classroom," Proserpine said. "Professor Vanderfleet had pots full of mandrake roots."

"The juice has helped me block my senses from any possible mandrake root reaction, but since I've been short out of basilisks lately..."

"Got it," Mal said. "I'll double-check with Ben to make sure that there's not a single mandrake root tomorrow during the event."

"Thanks, Mal."

As the girls were chatting, they were unaware that a couple individuals were spying on them from the shadows.

"Shall we tell the master?" a female voice asked.

"Indeed," a male voice answered.

They walked away silently, leaving a trail of footprints created by the male's butter yellow dress shoes and the female's shamrock green wedge thigh high boots with pine green circle designs.


	14. An Intoxicating Event

Chapter 14: An Intoxicating Event

Just like at the decathlon, the auditorium was filled up with students and the media for the event of Potion-crafting the next day. For the event, the stage was set up with twelve tables, each provided with a potion brewing and chemistry set and a box, in which the contestants would discover which potion they have to make.

"I hope Penna makes it through," Jessie said nervously. Minuit held an arm over Jessie's shoulders in comfort.

The microphone was heard tapping, making everyone shush down and drive their attention to Charles and Leidi, who were sitting next to Merlin, Fairy Godmother, and the U.N Representative Queen Clarion. "We'd like to thank everyone for attending the Potion-crafting event of the Pride Games," Charles said. "And now let's meet the contestants."

"For Auradon Prep, we have Evie, Doug, Macy, Manny, Caron, and Penna." Leidi mentioned the contestants, who stood in their white lab coats and grey school uniforms. People barely clapped, mostly because they recalled Penna ditching the decathlon and causing an unexpected tie. "For St Luther, we have Maja, Ficklette, Necrosimon, Expertina, Alsarika, and Sternia." Better applauding was heard from them while Penna had a hard time ignoring Sternia's angry green eyes glaring at her through her green reading glasses.

"Snape's daughter and Voldemort's daughter competing against one another?" Mal looked at Ben. "I hope Penna can make it."

"This is a one round challenge where the contestants have to make a potion assigned to them using the boxes' ingredients," Charles explained. "Those are quick, but tricky potions to make. The judges will do the judging based on time preparation, accurate details, and effectiveness. Contestants, you only have an hour to prepare the potion. And it starts..."

"Now!" Leidi shouted. Without one moment to lose, each contestant made a run to his or her table and proceeded to open their boxes to discover what where the potions they had to make. Penna opened hers and saw the ingredients in store for her: two shrivelfigs, four uprooted daisies, canned dead hairy caterpillars and leeches, a leaf of wormwood, liquid rat spleen, and cowbane.

" _Mihi bibere_." Penna realized what potion she'd be dealing with. The Drink Me Potion, the same kind of potion that was used in Wonderland to shrink sizes. Penna smirked to herself. This was one potion she knew she could handle.

"55 minutes are left on the clock, and with her sense of smell, Expertina is taking the lead with all her fresh chosen ingredients!" Charles spoke from the microphone.

 _Don't rush, take your time_ , Penna reminded herself. _If I rush, I could lose a certain detail._ She put the ingredients she needed on the table and proceeded to make her potion. Her first step was to heat up her cauldron at low temperature and let it warm up while she used a syringe to extract the ruby blood out of the shrivelfigs. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about the undesired bacteria as she poured the syringe's content into the cauldron and stirred it for a few minutes. She then increased the heat to a degree and let the blood boil while she examined the daisies, took the four healthiest roots out of the lot, and chopped them to the size of fingernails before stirring them into the cauldron.

"It seems like Penna is joining in the lead as well by taking every single precaution in her potion," Queen Clarion pointed out. "But nobody else is giving up and there are 45 minutes left on the clock."

 _Five hairy caterpillars,_ Penna recalled the recipe. _It's actually a trick ingredient, since it's only the hair that gives the tingling reaction._ She took a scalp knife and shaved five of the dead hairy caterpillars before adding them into the cauldron. She then cut the wormwood leaf in half and proceeded to grind it, since grinding half a leaf rather than shaking a whole leaf of wormwood gives the potion more effect. Once that was thrown into the cauldron, which was starting to have a glass color appearance, she went on to sit it vigorously.

"30 minutes on the clock and nobody is giving up!" Leidi declared.

Penna increased the cauldron's heat and used the syringe to extract all the blood that four of the dead leeches had sucked in the past. The blood went into the cauldron and was cautiously stirred, giving the liquid a syrup color. Penna reduced the heat and let it sit while she proceeded to shake only once the rat spleen and mince the cowbane before adding it all to the cauldron, stirring the content and increasing the temperature.

"20 minutes left!" Charles warned. Penna grabbed a ladle and carefully put and pulled it out of the cauldron, pouring the colorless and scentless potion into a vial, making sure that not a single drop fell. Once that was solved, she put down the bottle in a safe area to cool down and went on to clean up the mess she made while crafting the potion.

"And Penna is proceeding to clean up her working area," Leidi spoke through the speakers. "For someone who got brainwashed unto taking over the world a few months ago, she sure knows how to make most of her 10 minutes left by helping out the janitor!"

Some snickering was heard. Penna could feel her worst self begging to be released and force those who mocked her to pay. She shook her head. _No, I'm fine. I won't let my evil me or my good me cloud my judgment. Just think of how all this will be over in a few minutes or so._

"Times up!" Charles declared. "Please bring out your potions! The judges will try them out on some of the lab rats from Chemistry class!"

A couple of individuals came in, dressed in extreme white lab coat gear, boots, gloves, and masks that covered 55% of their heads. Even the protective goggles couldn't give a hint of their eye colors. The only details they gave out were that they were a man and a woman and that they were containing a cage full of white mice.

"Usually I dislike harming mice," Fairy Godmother said in dismay, "but I guess we will make an exception. Proceed."

One by one, the contestants tested out their potions on the rats. First in line were Expertina and Penna: it was challenging enough, but both of them made it through when Penna was able to shrink a rat with her Drink Me Potion and Expertina brought it back to its normal size with an Eat Me Potion. As they watched Evie demonstrating her fertility potion and Doug his sterility potion, Expertina gently patted Penna on the hand in comfort, making Penna feel a bit better. Macy and Manny then presented their effective hair-dye and bald potions respectively.

It was then Sternia's turn to present her potion. She quickly glared at Penna bitterly before heading towards the judges' table. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the living rats. "I'm sorry, but..." Sternia tried to find the right words. "How am I supposed to demonstrated my potions' effectiveness if the rats are still alive?"

"I beg your pardon?" Merlin asked.

"My potion requires a petrified body to cure." Sternia showed a vial full of brown liquid in her hand.

"That can't be right," Queen Clarion said. "Your potion was supposed to be the Pevensie Cordial. What...what potion did you make?" Murmurs of confusion were heard in the audience, wondering what was going on. With all of the commotion going on, nobody noticed that the female member of the white lab geared individuals discreetly used her hands to create a green smoke of magic that slithered its way underneath Sternia's feet and weakened one of the planks she was standing on. Sternia tripped and accidently dropped the vial, smashing it and spreading liquid all over the stage. A nauseous scent waved its way out.

"Move out of the stage!" Sternia screamed in fear. "This potion is also dangerous!"

The contestants ran off the stage as fast as they could. Penna pushed Expertina so that the latter could get off before her.

Suddenly, her senses started to weaken. Penna could start feeling her limbs tiring out, making her unwilling to get off the stage. It now felt as if the distant echoes of the confused crowd and her own heartbeats were the only sounds she could hear. Penna tried to hold her head up when she felt her head getting heavy and her vision blurring.

"Penna, what are you doing? Get off the stage!" Fairy Godmother called out to her in vain. Meanwhile, Minuit and Jessie realized why Penna was behaving like this. Jessie was the first to react and tried to strangle Sternia until Jay and Ben stopped her.

"Mandrake Restorative Draught!" Jessie wailed. "You poisoned Penna, you selfish jerk! You poisoned her!"

"What? No, I didn't!" Sternia said, shocked that they were blaming her.

"There's no time! We need to get an ambulance, people!" Mr. Barkin shouted once Penna fell unconscious on the floor.

 _Meanwhile, at the camp in the Enchanted Forest_

Marius was in his tent, sitting at his desk and reading the book that his messenger finally brought him back from the Fae Realm. He read it carefully, since one thing that he learned from his parents the Fairy Queen and the Bog King is that details must _never_ escape. Normally, a lazy prince would just flip through the pages and ignore possibly valuable information until he found the information he needed. Good thing that Marius was nothing like those princes.

Any of the information the book contained could help him out at figuring it out the solution to removing those Kraken Needles from Viper Eyes' back. Just thinking about her sweet and helpful nature, the way she and the prince had in common, and how she was such a stunning beauty almost distracted him from his priority.

"Let's see what it says about Kraken Acupuncture Needles." Marius read the chapter he was looking for in the book's category on magical relics related to monster anatomy. " _'Kraken Acupuncture Needles are ancient, now forbidden relics to use in the villain community. Created by Otreros, the same tyrannical king who attempted to use the Villains Comet to conquer everything, by hunting down a Kraken and ripping one thousand of its million teeth and dipping them with his blood, the Kraken Acupuncture Needles were used by villains who did not believe that their children should find their marks of villainy on their own. In a way of speaking, the parents used the needles to force a mark of villainy and fate upon the child._ '"

"Very curious..."

"BOSS! BOSS!" Junk called out from outside the tent.

"What did you do now?" Marius put a bookmark on the page he left off and placed the book in a drawer near his bed before going outside. Kit, Junk, and some blue-skinned girl with strange black clothing were waiting for him.

"Boss, this is Mina, one of Viper Eyes' friends," Kit made the introductions rapidly. "She's got bad news. Something happened to Viper Eyes!"

"What?" His voice was filled with dread and he turned to Mina. "What happened to her?"

"There was an accident during one of the events at the Pride Games..." Mina was saying quickly out of fear. "Someone made a potion that has a very unhealthy reaction for...Viper Eyes...She's at the hospital right now, unconscious and hallucinating...Please help!"

"Slow down!" Marius held her down by holding Mina on the shoulders. "What reacted the allergy?"

"Mandrake roots!" Mina said. "Please do something...I don't trust the doctors back at the hospital. These idiots can't even pullout the Kraken Needles on her back and my friend said you were good at aromatherapy..."

Marius ran back inside his tent and stormed through his cabinet of vials until he found the right ones he needed and rapidly grinded, chopped, and melted the ingredients until he came out with a bottle full of orange liquid.

"Healing Nectar," he told Mina as he handed her the bottle. "She needs to drink half of it maximum!"

"Got it! Thank you so much!" Mina took the bottle and made a run for it.

"And tell Viper Eyes that I hope she makes it through!" Marius shouted. He still continued to dread Viper Eyes' health status as Mina disappeared into the woods.

"Did I miss something?" Sugar Plum asked as she passed by.

"Yes, you just missed the reveal that King Ben can't even handle an attempt to poison one of the students during the Pride Games!" he scoffed in disbelief. "Remind me to add it on my list of reasons why we should ally with Auradon!"

 _Meanwhile, at the hospital_

"MOBBING THE VKS IN THEIR HOUSING AREA WAS BAD ENOUGH, BUT POISONING ONE OF THE OTHER STUDENTS! THAT'S LOW!"

Due to the mandrake accident, Penna had been transported to the hospital and the Potions-crafting event ended up like the decathlon: with a tie and no winner. While Merlin and a few other doctors were tending Penna ineffectively, Sternia was getting screamed at by Dusk while Ben, some of their other friends, the two schools' principals, Mr. Barkin, and Shari watched solemnly.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I didn't do it!" Sternia insisted.

"Oh, please!" Dusk snapped. "You hate Penna because of what she did to your dad Severus Snape- which I do get- and you took part in a mob that made it loud and clear that you wanted Penna 'rightfully' punished! So yeah, give me a good reason to not believe you tried to poison her!"

"For one I couldn't because of all her Horcruxes! Hello, I can't kill a girl who's already immortal with an allergy!"

"Sternia's got a point," Mal admitted. "Penna said that her allergy can only drive her unconscious and make her hallucinate. It can't kill her, especially with those fourteen Horcruxes she has left..."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Jessie snarled and pointed an accusing finger. "The daughter of Snape, the same girl who disdains the one person who actually bothered to raise me like a parent, just _happened_ to have to make for the competition a Mandrake Restorative Draught, which _happens_ to have mandrake roots in it, and which _happen_ to be the only thing in the universe Penna is allergic to?"

" _You_ really are idiotic!" Sternia spat at her. She and the Joker's daughter growled at each other in bitter spite.

"ENOUGH!" Fairy Godmother pulled them apart. "To be fair, Sternia, we have checked with security and they confirmed that the ingredients you were supposed to use for the Pevensie Cordial were still in the box when they put it on the stage five minutes before you and the contestants came on stage. And I highly doubt that someone invisible could have switched the ingredients and make a run for it..."

"I didn't do it..." Sternia was starting to sound broken.

"I'm sorry, Sternia Snape, but the criminal evidence makes it clear that you are the only one who has plenty animosity against Miss De Mort to try a failed attempt on her life," Principal Melchior said sternly as he got up and faced Sternia, making her cringe. "Being casted out will be your punishment."

"C...casted out?" Sternia stammered. "What...what do you mean?"

"In simple English, it means that you are no longer allowed to participate in the Pride Games and that you are expelled from St Luther once they are done!" He raised his voice. They all gasped when they realized what he meant and Sternia finally broke into tears and ran out of the hospital right when Mina arrived with the medicine she needed for Penna. "What happened?" She asked the group. "Either I watch too much TV or...Sternia's actually crying?"

"She just got expelled from both the Pride Games and school," Dusk said in disbelief. Mina gasped in shock.

"Principal Melchior, are you sure this isn't a little extreme?" Ben asked the stoic man.

"Believe me, your Highness, you don't go anywhere when you still have dark-minded youth in your highly-reputed school," he said before making his way out of the hospital and Mina made her way to Penna's room in order to give Penna the medicine.

 _Past sunset, in the Auradon Prep campus_

Sternia was still crying as she ran her way back to Auradon Prep, passing the glares of her own classmates angered and convinced that she tried to poison Penna. _How could they possibly believe that I would poison Penna?_ She thought. _Yes, I hate her, but I wouldn't poison her_!

She made her way to the empty tourney field, where she sat down on one of the first row bleachers and continued to cry.

"The idiotic Muggles fell right for the trick!" A female voice caught Sternia's attention and made her realize that three dark shadows were hiding under the bleachers and unaware that Sternia was sitting above them as they talked. Since she didn't dare to position herself and accidently reveal herself, Sternia kept her mouth shut. "Switching the ingredients and making Snape's brat concoct a potion out of mandrake roots!"

"And making Penna De Mort ill, thus convincing everyone that Sternia Snape did it!" a male voice joined in the sneering. "In less than a few hours, we have managed to pin the reformees and the VKs against one another...again!"

"Totally! And tricking Charlotte Magali Dubois into discovering that Minuit Sparkle was posing as Penna De Mort during the decathlon? This will be easy! With such success, we'll just have to continue sabotaging every event Penna De Mort participates in, making her contribution look like a jinx to the Pride Games, and pinning the blame on the reformees who will blame it on the VKs and cause a destructive war!"

Sternia covered her mouth to hide her gasp. So they were the ones who framed her and gave away Penna's absence during the events the latter participated in!

"And when Penna De Mort sees that no matter how much she tries, no one in Auradon will ever accept and she will have to re-embrace her true evil nature...permanently!"

" **Well done, my minions! You have done well!** " a deep voice said. Sternia nearly released her gasp when she thought that the voice sounded familiar.

" _Hey_!"

Somebody called and startled her, inadvertently alerting the shadowy people and making Sternia see a few seconds later that the real culprits had run off. She looked back at the direction of the person who called her and saw that it was Karlos Python from Auradon Prep.

"You almost scared the living daylights out of me!" Sternia snapped.

" _Gee, so much for me trying to tell people that I believe they're innocent!_ " Karlos muttered and began to storm off.

"No, wait!" Sternia ran after and caught up to him. "I'm sorry, I...I'm just getting emotional because my principal banned me from the Pride Games and later on from St Luther."

" _I'm sorry_ ," Karlos said genuinely. " _Would a cup of black oolong tea cheer you up? I know it was your father's favorite._ "

The daughter of Snape smiled at the son of Kaa and Tradaria and accepted to be escorted by him under the stars back to his house. "Sure, I'd like that."


	15. J'ai Grandi

Chapter 15: J'ai Grandi

"Way to go, Mal!"

Penna was back on her feet once the medicine Mina brought her took effect, but she stormed off back to her house and shut all the doors and windows from within, preventing anyone from stepping in. She hadn't come out to go to her morning classes at all this morning. Out of concern, Ben, Mal, and some of their friends went to Malevia Village and tried to convince Penna to come out. Clearly, Naga hissing at them from inside whenever they tried knocking made it obvious that Penna was not intending on opening the door for them.

"Penna, please try to understand," Ben insisted. "We didn't know that Sternia was going to attempt poisoning you."

"I don't blame Sternia for wanting my head!" Penna shouted loud and clear even though she was up in her bedroom. "I blame Mal for her fake promise! She promised that I wouldn't have any problem at the event and I still ended up with a mandrake root allergy problem that _Mal_ said I wouldn't deal with! Why...Why do I even bother trying to show people that I want to reform when nobody will give me the chance? They'll just keep treating me like they always have! Like Voldemort's daughter!"

"You _are_ Voldemort's daughter," Carlos said in confusion. This only resulted with a scream and breaking glass.

"Penna?" Jessie asked in fear.

"THAT'S IT!" Penna screamed. "AS OF NOW, I AM NOT LEAVING MY HOUSE NOR DO I WANT TO SEE ANYONE! AND SINCE I'M SUCH A JINX, I WON'T TAKE PART IN ANY PRIDE GAME EVENT NOR WILL I ATTEND ANY OF THEM! NOW GET LOST AND LEAVE ME TO ROT LIKE YOU ALL WANT ME TO!"

Her scream frightened them. Minuit then started crying and began to run off with the others trying to catch up to her. Jessie was the last one to leave as she jot down something on a piece of paper and slid it underneath the front door.

Meanwhile, Minuit was still crying as she ran indoors, catching the attention of some of the VKs and Auradonian Kids, who weren't used to seeing Minuit cry like this.

"What happened?" Ruby exclaimed. Her question even got the attention of Martin, who peeked up from his history textbook.

"Penna is isolating herself for the rest of the Pride Games and she doesn't want to see anyone," Evie explained. "Not even...Minuit and Jessie."

"She's even hoping of rotting in her house," Dårlig added in.

"Eesh." Sean and Ingwer grimaced. "That sounds a lot like what Ruby did when we came back from our quest: she practically blew up at the Villains Council and said she was giving up."

"I was emotionally unstable!" Ruby protested.

"Emotionally unstable to leave me a Dear John letter that basically crushed my heart?" Martin asked, silencing Ruby and making her sit down quietly as she knew her boyfriend was right.

"Look, Penna just needs to calm down and think of her own words," Feige said. "Let's just leave her be for a couple days and I'm sure she'll come back to her senses."

 _Meanwhile, in Penna's house_

Penna was now sitting in the black velvet sofa of her living room, which was messy with a broken chandelier, mirror shards, and smashed vases that she had destroyed during her frustration. Guilt was overwhelming her when she read the note Jessie had slipped under the door.

"Good Lord, Naga, what have I done?" she told her snake. "I just threw off the girls that I raised and one of them was looking towards me seeing her do her best at an event she's going to take part in! And I can't go because I'll just jinx it like all the other events!"

Her hand clutched on to her note as she cried. Just thinking about how she threw off her girls while they were hoping to see her during Minuit's participation in the Pride Showcases made her cry at the old memories she had of when she actually gave those Pokemon to Minuit when the latter was still little. How Minuit looked so happy when she found an Eevee in her wrapped present box on her sixth birthday and hugged Penna for it. How Penna ran into a wild Weavile and Sableye in volcanic patterns and caught them for Minuit, who wanted more Pokemon for her recently evolved Espeon when she was ten. How Minuit kept practicing with them for jeerleading while Penna was having a hard time convincing Jessie to not skin any of her snakes as a prank...

"Wow, your room is worse than Junk's during the cold season."

Penna yelped and fell deeper into the sofa when she saw Kit standing in her living room. "What are you doing in my house?" Penna exclaimed in frustration. She then looked around and asked, puzzled: "How _did_ you get inside my house?"

"Your snake let me in last night one hour before you came back and started barricading your house." Kit sat down on the nearest armchair. "Bug Fly begged me to check on you. He got worried sick ever since he sent you that medicine."

"Really?" Penna looked up in surprise.

"Hello, the guy refused to eat his dinner last night and he _never_ backs down when it comes to newt roast!"

"God..." Penna didn't realize that Bug Fly was so worried about her. That was...something she never expected to come from someone of the opposite gender who was genuinely concerned despite the fact that they only knew each other for like a weak.

Kit looked at Penna as the latter still looked emotionally mixed. "Is this how bad the humans treat you?"

Penna turned her head, her bluish eyes looking all so tragic while her head caressed Naga on the head. "With all the cruel things I've done in the past, can you blame them if they want to kill me even though I can't even commit suicide myself?" she asked miserably. Kit nodded in understanding. Then, an idea hit her.

"I promise on Oberon's horns..."

"What?"

"Sorry. I forgot. In the Fae Realm, swearing on the god Oberon's horns is our way of making an unbreakable promise."

"Ah. With us, it's swearing on the River Styx, but please go back to on swearing on your horny god." Penna's joke made Kit laugh.

"Look, I promise on Oberon's horns that I won't tell anyone about your...current housing barricade scenario, but maybe you should get out rather than stay cooped up here and drown in your miseries," Kit suggested. "You don't think anyone will notice your absence while you sneak out and go hang out with us? You know who would really like to see you as he continues dealing with the festival preparations and exploring Auradon."

Kit's teasing tone at the last sentence made it clear to Penna what she meant. Bug Fly really wanted to spend time with her. She glanced at Jessie's note one last time and looked back at Kit with determination.

"I don't think anyone will care about my absence," she said before then showing the note to Kit. "Could you just see if I can go watch the Pride Showcases without being spotted? One...one of the orphans that I've been taking care of will be performing there."

"Deal!" Kit shook hands with Penna. She then got up. "Now let's get out of here!"

"Hold up! I'm not removing my planks!" Penna retorted. "I don't want anybody breaking inside my house while I'm gone!"

"You should have told that to your snake." Kit opened the door that led to the basement. "She's got dug tunnels that lead out of the basement and into the woods. You think she just opened the front door to me when I first came in?"

"Naga!" Penna looked at the snake in disbelief while Naga just stuck her tongue in amusement.

 _Meanwhile, in the music room of Auradon Prep_

Sirenius Dazzle was practicing playing the piano for his new song. The music room was empty of teachers and students, leaving Sirenius alone with just the company of the instruments. That was, of course, until Dusk came in.

"Hey," she said nicely. "How's it going?"

"Fine. I'm just writing a new song," he said. "How about you?"

"Eh, the feelings are mixed." She grabbed a chair and sat next to him. Disco Jam popped out of her hair and sat on the piano. "Almost half of the reformees are going back to hating the VKs and I couldn't convince Principal Melchior to reconsider what he said about expelling Sternia."

"Karlos Python recently talked to Ben," Sirenius pointed out. "I heard that if your principal keeps saying no, Ben will do the nice thing and find a spot for Sternia in Auradon Prep."

"That _would_ be nice." Dusk smiled. She then peaked at the notes Sirenius had written. "What are you working on?"

"A new single that I hope to use during the upcoming music event. I'm making it unique by singing it in French," Sirenius explained. "I have a good interest for French music about life, optimism, and dreams."

"Can I try playing the piano notes?" Disco Jam asked in a pleading tone.

"Sure. Dusk and I can take care of the singing part." He separated the sheets and left those for Disco Jam to play. The Troll grew to human size and switched places with Sirenius on the piano while he and Dusk sat next to each other and shared the notes. Disco Jam began to play the music, which sounded marvelously beautiful.

Dusk: _Pas de date en souvenir_

 _Pas de nom à écrire._

 _Sans visage, je suis née._

 _Il me manque ton sourire._

Students were sharing glares of animosity to one another in the hallway. Some actually tried to give out a smile, but the receiver just scoffed and marched off. Ben and Mal walked by and sighed as they saw the feuding.

Sirenius: _Crise d'identité,_

 _Pas de père à aimé,_

 _Mais une fraternité,_

 _Toi qui me l'as donné._

Penna and Bug Fly caught the next tour ferryboat with Kit and Junk. The group watched in admiration the sun reflecting on the water like crystals. Every few minutes, they'd stop to greet a pod of dolphins and let some of the passengers caress the sea creatures. Penna and Bug Fly were among some of the passengers who got to caress the dolphins, who made cute sounds at the touch of humane affection. They even seemed to giggle to one another when they noticed Bug Fly looking at the sea reflected in Penna's eyes with fascination.

Dusk and Sirenius: _Même si j'ai grandi sans lui_

 _J'ai trouvé mes repères en mes amis_

At the Tourney Field, Minuit collapsed in the ground with exhaustion from practicing her choreography with her Pokemon, who rushed to tend her. Audrey came on the spot and brought in some water bottles that she shared with Dusk. Just as they were giving refreshments to their Pokemon, Kaly Astéria came in and offered to let Audrey borrow Kaly's Meowstic since she, as a godly descendant, couldn't participate. The daughter of Sleeping Beauty hugged the daughter of Kalandre in gratitude.

Dusk and Sirenius: _La chaleur et l'envie d'être un jour_

 _Le meilleur pour ma famille_

Later on in the evening, Bug Fly led Penna to a nearby marsh with a stunning spectacle that the latter never imagined to move her: fireflies fling all over the marsh, making the marshy water create illusionistic reflections of yellow stars among the foliage sky. Watching the natural light show gave the two an idea, and the next day, they were enjoying making glowing string lights for the Easter Festival as inspiration of the fireflies.

Sirenius: _Une absence si présente_

 _J'aimerais qu'elle me resente_

 _Je voudrais qu'elle me voit_

 _Son travail passe avant moi_

Jessie sighed in defeat after she failed to get Penna's front door to open the next day. To cheer her up, Koutí successfully invited her to go join her in her practice for the roller-skating event at a nearby arcade. As for Sternia, she had to endure her own classmates glaring at her and scoffing their noses away from her as a way of saying: "Thanks for making us lose the Potion-crafting event with your poisoning attempt!' She spotted Karlos Python, who waited for her with a spare bike, making her smile and join him in a bike ride.

Dusk: _Une mère qui ne prend pas le temps_

 _De me voir grandir mais que j'aime tant_

 _J'aimerais tellement qu'elle m'entende_

 _Alors parfois je m'enfuis_

Dusk and Sirenius: _Trouver refuge en mes amis_

 _C'est eux qui me donnent de l'amour_

 _Qu'il me manque chaque jour_

Sirenius: _Alors je puise au fond de moi_

 _Tous ces moments où t'étais là_

 _Quand on est jeune un rien nous blesse_

 _On est à vif qu'une blessure reste_

In a downtown library, Penna and her friends from the Fae Realm explored the numerous shelves of books that made the library so glorious. While the twins enjoyed the comedies of Shakespeare and Molière, the library intern Samuel Simpson noticed with interest that the other two members of the group seemed to share a passion for classic novels, which was noticeable as they were looking through the pages of some of their personal favorites and pointing out certain areas in the stories that struck them the most.

Dusk and Sirenius: _Même si j'ai grandi sans lui_

 _J'ai trouvé mes repères en mes amis_

Koutí found herself getting handed the golden trophy at the roller-skating event. All the St Luther students cheered for the winner while Auradon Prep, especially the VKs, didn't seem crazy about the fact that the three students who won 1st through 3rd place were all reformees, the 2nd and 3rd place winners being the Ombre twins, which almost everyone found ironic.

Dusk and Sirenius: _La chaleur et l'envie d'être un jour_

 _Le meilleur pour ma famille_

Messengers were posting flyers about the upcoming Easter Festival on as many walls as they could find while Penna and Bug Fly checked out the local pastry shop. Penna looked nervous as Bug Fly purchased two peach tarts, since she wasn't so keen about sweet fruits, but after an encouraging look from Bug Fly, she tried a small piece that result with her devouring the whole thing in delight, making Bug Fly chuckle.

Dusk: _J'ai trouvé un sens à ma vie_

 _J'ai trouvé mon père en mes amis_

Feige and Dårlig met up with Minuit and Jessie in the library and silently shook their heads, confirming that even they couldn't get Penna to let them in her house. Jessie looked sadly at Minuit, who looked at her paper full of ideas for what dress to wear for the Pride Showcases.

Sirenius: _J'ai trouvé un sens à ma vie_

 _J'ai trouvé ma mère en mes amis_

Marius put a bookmark in the book he was reading about Kraken Needles and put it back in the cabinet before joining the others outside to make the flower garlands. Just before he got out of his tent, he noticed the Night Violets he kept in vases. The flower started to make Marius think about certain growing emotions that might need to be resolved.

Dusk: _J'ai trouvé la chaleur dans ma vie_

Sirenius: _J'ai trouvé la chaleur en mes amis_

Once again, Buffy swung her golf club and shot the ball straight into the hole again, making Auradon Prep earn the gold medal during the golfing event. Later on in the evening, she almost got caught by Ronilda while the former snuck out to send her medal in the mail to her father on the Isle rather than put it where the other trophies and medals won by Auradon Prep were supposed to go. Ronilda merely shrugged at her and willingly offered Buffy a faster way to the post office by riding one of her motorcycles.

Dusk: _J'ai trouvé le bonheur dans ma vie_

Sirenius: _J'ai trouvé le bonheur dans mes amis_

Penna went alone with Bug Fly at the local art gallery to see the grand exhibit of paintings portraying stars. Some of the works they admired were those of Van Gogh, Elizabeth Fraser, Georgia O'Keefe, and Lieve Verschuier. Seeing all the beautifully portrayed stars remind Penna of just how great she was feeling whenever she was around Bug Fly.

Dusk and Sirenius: _Même si j'ai grandi sans lui_

 _J'ai trouvé mes repères en mes amis_

 _La chaleur et l'envie d'être un jour_

 _Le meilleur pour ma famille_

Tensions seemed to have calmed down between the students as if the accident of the Potions-crafting competition was nothing but an old memory. By now, it was back to being on friendly terms for most of the students, like Jay, Othello, Carlos, and Ronilda playing soccer with a few other rascals in the parking lot and running away laughing from Mr. Barkin after they accidently hit his car with the ball.

Dusk and Sirenius: _Même si j'ai grandi sans lui_

 _J'ai trouvé mes repères en mes amis_

 _La chaleur et l'envie d'être un jour_

 _Le meilleur pour ma famille_

The sun was setting on the horizon and Penna and Bug Fly sat together on a bunch of steps that led to an unoccupied beach. They sighed at the sight of the colorful show the sun was creating above the waves until Bug Fly spotted something. He quickly flew down, grabbed the thing, and went back to Penna. She looked at him dumbfounded until he loosened his fingers and gave her the thing he found by the waves: a pure white pearl shaped like a sand dollar. Penna smiled happily at the gift, especially after Bug Fly used a spare teal ribbon to make a necklace out of the pearl and place it around Penna's neck.

 _In the evening, the day just before the Pride Showcases_

Minuit sighed as she flipped through an old article about the Pride Games that talked about how Melody won the first Pride Showcases and got the title that led her to becoming a pop sensation.

What's the point of taking part in the event if Penna wasn't going to be there to see her do her best? Minuit had considered making the call to cancel her participation, but at the same time she didn't want to miss such a performance.

A knock was heard from behind the door. Who could possibly want to see her at this time of the day? Jessie couldn't have been the one since she and Minuit shared a dorm room and Jessie was snoring and hugging her plushed hyena in her bed. To make sure that she didn't accidently wake her up, Minuit carefully opened the door silently and took a look. Nobody was in the hallways except for a nicely wrapped package with her name on it. Confused as to who would drop her off a gift in the middle of the night, Minuit brought the gift inside, closed the door, and sat on her bed to open it. She dropped the lid when she saw what she had received: a purple knee-length dress with transparent split sleeves, a tulle skirt, a waist sash designed like Minuit's star design, black flats, lavender tights with her star designs, cuff bracelets and a choker necklace with alicorn wing and star designs. A note fell out of the dress and into Minuit's lap. Noticing it, she took it and read it.

"' _I thought you could use this for your performance tomorrow_ ,'" she read the familiar handwriting. "' _I'll be watching your performance in a very shadowy place tomorrow since I don't want to accidently ruin the event you've been practicing so hard for. Just do your best out there, whether you win or lose, my sweet alicorn.'"_

Sweet alicorn. Minuit cried happily when she saw that all her practice wasn't for naught. She dried her tears and looked at the moonlight shining through the curtains with ambition.

"I'll be giving the maximum tomorrow!" 


	16. Pride Showcases

Chapter 16: Pride Showcases

The day finally came, the one that many of the girls from both Auradon Prep and St. Luther were anticipating for the most out of the competitions they took part of so far. It was now the day for the Pokemon Showcases.

"Holy...shit..." Minuit gasped when she, Evie, and Audrey, along with some of their friends, went inside the theater to see where they'd be performing with their Pokemon. The theater was so large it would have made a football stadium jealous. A good half of the theater was the stage itself, made out of a marvelous marble floor that shone with all the blue and golden lights coming from the ceiling. It also had the decoration of a ballroom, with the fake windows, marble pillars and stairs, and a central mosaic fashioned with a blue and gold flower with the logo of the showcases.

"This theater is almost as big as my mom's ego!" Carlos gasped.

"This Pride Showcase Theater is known to be one of the seven wonders in Auradon," Ben exclaimed as they admired the view. "Back when they were only in Kalos, the Pokemon Showcase theaters were usually located in big towns or cities, but ever since the Pride Games first started, they were fashioned all over the world in case a school ever made it to the top four." He looked proudly at the stage. "This one is the best since it was the very first to be built. Also, it was fashioned by the ballroom where my parents shared their first dance."

"How romantic!" Evie clapped her hands together. "I can't wait to perform, what about you?" She stopped herself when she noticed Minuit seemed the most nervously agitated between her and Audrey, who gently held Minuit by the hand.

"Don't worry," she reassured Minuit. "We both practiced very hard with our Pokemon and I know we'll both make it through the themed performances and freestyle."

"Speaking of making it through, you guys better get backstage!" Jessie pointed at her clowny wristwatch. "Now go and break a leg!"

"Right!" The three girls made a rush backstage, where they ran into many other girls getting ready for the first of the themed performances. Meanwhile, Ben and Mal met up with Ben's parents and grandfather in the royal row of the bleachers. They were accompanied by six other royals, three being Trolls and the other three being Bergens. What struck Ben and Mal the most were the fact that not only the Trolls had a Spritzee, Togekiss, and Sylveon with them, but the female owner of the Spritzee and the male owner of the Togekiss looked a lot like...

"Ah, Ben!" Beast got up and hugged his son while Belle did the same with Mal. "I'd like to introduce you to King Branch and Queen Poppy of the Trolls. I'm sure you already know their daughter."

"Gladiola, of course!" Ben shook hands with King Branch. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness."

"The pleasure is all mine," Branch said amiably. Meanwhile, Mal was getting introduced to Poppy.

"Of course!" Mal realized. "You're here because Gladiola is taking part of the Pride Showcases!"

"Yep!" Poppy said casually. "This is the one event she was looking forward to the most! My father and our Bergen friends, Gristle, Bridget, and their daughter Calico came along to cheer Gladiola on!"

"I can't wait to see Gladiola with her Kirlia!" Calico said excitedly. "These two have been around since we were kids!"

"By the way, how's Ronilda doing?" Poppy asked as they all sat down.

"Wait, how do...No wait, of course you know her." Mal almost forgot that Gladiola was Ronilda's bonded Troll.

"Believe me, it shocked us as well that Gladiola managed to have an emotional bond with a human, especially since we never had interacted with humans before," Branch said. "Next thing you know, every single Troll Teen in Bergen Town wants to be bonded with a human and be their happiness guide."

"I see."

 _Once the entire theater was full_

Orchestra music played to get everyone's attention to the stage as the light brightened the stage and a blonde man in his late twenties dressed in a glowing blue harlequin tuxedo made the announcement.

" _Bonjour_ , Pokemon lovers! Prepare yourself for a competition _magnifique_! It is I, Monsieur Paul son of the Kalos Pokemon Showcase host Monsieur Pierre, who will be your host today as I guide you through the fourth Pride Showcase!"

The crowd went wild and applauded as Monsieur Paul guided them through the Pride Showcases. "Let me explain the rules: in a Pride Showcase, a performer must make it through three themed performances in order to make it to the freestyle performance. If that performer manages to charm you and win your votes, she will be selected to perform against the current Pride Queen Melody! So, will there be a new Queen or will the Queen defend her title? Only one way to find out!"

 _Up in the VIP booth shielded by tainted blue glass_

Bug Fly had managed to 'talk' to the prince of the Fae Realm to grant the prince's 'president of community service' the VIP booth to watch the Pride Showcases by telling Ben that it would mean a lot to the Fae Realm visitors if they could 'secretly' watch the Showcases without any presence declaration of the sort.

Basically, that's what Penna understood, but as far as she was concerned, that meant she could watch Minuit perform without worrying about people screaming her name.

"You're excited to see your friend perform?" Bug Fly asked as he brought in the jasmine tea over to the table they were all sitting at.

Penna nodded gratefully and took a teacup. "Thanks, Bug Fly. This _really_ means a lot to me."

He mutually smiled back at her.

 _Meanwhile_

A platform rose on the stage, carrying three small kitchens and three girls dressed in cooking tunics and aprons, one at each kitchenette with her Pokemon.

"The first themed performance is a Pokepuff baking contest!" Monsieur Paul explained. "During the time limit, performers must make delicious Pokepuffs in an elegant manner. Our judge for the performance, you know him probably, Monsieur Remy, will have his Pokemon Slurpuff try out the Pokepuffs. Slurpuff as a very strong sense of taste and smell, so whoever made a delicious Pokepuff in an elegant way will move on to the next round! Ladies, proceed!"

The first round included Minuit, Cassie, and some other girl from St Luther that Penna didn't recognize.

"Espeon, use Psychic," Minuit told her Pokemon. "Weavile, use Sharp Claw. Sableye, use Shadow Claw!" Next thing the audience, Minuit and Pokemon moved so swiftly as Espeon used Psychic to mix the wet ingredients, Weavile and Sableye left trails of dark sparkles as they sliced berries while Minuit prepared the frosting. While Cassie and her Axew continued baking, Minuit and her Pokemon were already onto the decorating by the time it was almost. Everyone watched in silenced as Slurpuff tasted out the prepared Pokepuffs and chose its favorite.

"The performer moving on to the next round is MINUIT SPARKLE!" Monsieur Paul announced.

"I did it!" Minuit hugged her Pokemon while the audience cheered.

"She did it!" Penna applauded proudly while Bug Fly, Kit, and Junk did the same as the performances went on: Grinchelda and her Cubchoo won against Sharon and her Skarmory, Épique and her Noibat and Noivern lost to Eleanor and her Serperior, Evie and her Beautifly won against Lonnie and her Pancham, and Audrey was leaping in excitement when she found out she won.

Finally, the crowd cheered for the winner of the first round.

"Ladies and gentleman, the last performer to move on to the next round is PRINCESS GLADIOLA TROLLKONGE!" Everyone from St Luther cheered wildly for Gladiola as she curtsied with her Kirlia. Feige, who lost with her Grovyle, politely accepted defeat and gave her congratulations to Gladiola.

"Gladiola did it!" Queen Poppy and the rest of Gladiola's family applauded happily with their Bergen royalty friends.

"Wow, Koutí wasn't kidding when she said that Gladiola would be a tough competitor," Mal said, feeling nervous for her friends. Meanwhile, Mr. Paul continued to guide the audience as the platform of the stage changed from kitchenettes to three podiums with an artificial rocky mountain like those they use in movies.

"We started off with 135 beautiful and elegant ladies and 45 have dazzled you in the first round with their ability to charm Pokemon with tasty and elegant Pokepuffs. But now, only 15 will move on and bewitch you as they make it through the Pokemon quiz!"

"That's my favorite themed performance of the Showcases!" Belle said excitedly.

"Being the Pride Queen isn't only about being beautiful," Monsieur Pierre said as he walked on the stage's staircase. "She must also be intelligent and show virtue in guiding others. This challenge isn't too difficult: while the Performer must answer three questions correctly, her Pokemon must get her the right to answer first by finding a hidden orb in the Wall of Rocks. So ladies, delight us!"

The first group came up. Among the three girls were Evie and Glows Ruby, with their respective Beautifly and Spritzee. While the Pokemon began to dig in order to grant their trainers the right to answer a question first, Mal quickly asked King Branch: "You know Glows Ruby, right? That green Troll with glitter all over herself?"

"Yes, her father's Guy Diamond, one of my wife's friends," Branch.

"You mean _our_ friends," Poppy corrected him.

"Not again, you guys..." Gristle grumbled.

"And the performer moving on to the final themed performance is GLOWS RUBY!"

"Oh no, Evie lost..." Mal looked sadly at her best friend, who looked awfully sad when she saw Glows Ruby standing so tall and proud with her Spritzee. Even Evie's Beautifly lowered its wings in sadness.

"Indeed, Glows Ruby and her Spritzee are very well coordinated." Peppy nodded while his Sylveon affectionately wrapped his arm with its ribbon like feelers while the Pokemon Quiz continued. Eleanor and her Serperior looked enraged when they got beaten by Paena Maui and her Blastoise, who jumped in excitement. Aspra Vulpine hugged her Vulpix and walked away in defeat while Hermia and her Glaceon were showered by praise. Hannah South gritted her teeth and stormed off with her Unfezant after they failed to beat Maligna and her Purrloin.

"Here is the next group!" The platform brought up three more girls, and among them were Minuit and Espeon and Grinchelda and her Cubchoo.

"Minuit's next..." Penna looked hopefully from the VIP booth.

"Don't worry, she'll do great," Bug Fly reassured her.

And Bug Fly was correct, for Espeon was a fast runner and had a strong Psybeam that it used to smash through the rocks and run back to Minuit with the orb granting her the right to answer her questions while Grinchelda's Cubchoo had a hard time running without accidently tripping on its drooling nose.

"Aside from being a Ground-type, Krookodile is also a Dark-Type," Minuit answered her final question correctly.

"Minuit Sparkle moves on to the final themed performance!"

The crowd cheered for Minuit as she got tackled with a congratulating hug from Espeon. Grinchelda helped her get back up on her. "Good luck on your next performance," Grinchelda said quietly. Her Cubchoo looked quite sad. Minuit smiled warmly at them. "You know, you got one advantage: you got four more years to prepare until the next Pride Showcases."

"Ah yes, the joys of still being young!" The daughter of the Grinch giggled. As they exited the stage and made room for the group holding Audrey, Penna kept looking proudly from the VIP booth.

"At this rate, your friend will gain the title of Pride Queen," Bug Fly told Penna sympathetically.

"Of course she will. I'm the old lady who raised her."

The round went on until the last group passed. Once again, the crowd was cheering Gladiola and her Kirlia while Gitane sadly left the stage with her Vivillion. "The princess of the Trolls makes some fierce competition," Kit told Penna honestly. "There's three quarters of chances that she might move on to the themed performance."

"I'm afraid Kit might be right." He pointed at the crowd cheering for Gladiola as she left the stage and then at the royal booth, where her family was proudly cheering for her. "See how she brings warmth and happiness to the people and pride to her family? _That's_ how leading in general should be done, whether you are a royal or not. The benefit of those around you is the priority."

Penna blinked at his words, since they just seemed to ring with wisdom. Yet, they seemed so...invalid to her. Meanwhile, the performance went on and the platform changed to one with an artificial green field occupied by a herd of Rhyhorn.

"Here is the last round of the themed performances, ladies and gentlemen," Monsieur Paul explained as he stood on top of the staircases in order to avoid the Rhyhorn herd. "A Pride Queen, along with being beautiful and intelligent, must also be able to win the hearts of Pokemon besides you. Therefore, whichever performer who manages to lure in the most Rhyhorn in any way will move on to the themed performance. Here is the layout of the groups." A magical diagram appeared up in the air and showed the list of competitors.

 **Group 1:** Darcy Fae, Hermia Bartok, and Charlie Chikwondo

 **Group 2:** Minuit Sparkle, Diamond Echidna, and Maligna Trixie

 **Group 3:** Gossamer, Gladiola Trollkonge, and Hamida Let

 **Group 4:** Audrey, Meirong Dashi, and Crystal Maze

 **Group 5:** Mina Mind, Glows Ruby, and Paena Maui

"Ladies, begin!" The first group came up.

"Glaceon, use Ice Shard!" Hermia ordered. The Pokemon obeyed and shot ice shards around the Rhyhorn herd, trapping them like sheep in a fence. "Now use Attract!" It wasn't long until all the Rhyhorn ended up bewitched by the Attract move from Glaceon. With the other performers unable to do anything else, Hermia won and was granted the opportunity to make it among the top 5.

"Isolating the Rhyhorn and then using Attract to make sure that none of the competitors get a hold of those Pokemon." Belle was impressed.

"Let me guess, all the Rhyhorn were male?" Mal rolled her eyes. "They could mix the genders?"

"Apparently not." Branch sarcastically agreed with her. Even his Togekiss nodded its head in agreement.

Group 2 came up. "Weavile, use Attract!" Almost like what Hermia did, Minuit had her Weavile use Attract on the Rhyhorn, who walked towards her like complete puppies in love, making Minuit move on to the freestyle performance.

"Yes!" Penna hugged Bug Fly in joy, stunning the latter a bit before he hugged her back warmly.

"I'm shocked," Junk said, his eyes bigger than Ping-Pong balls. "I thought she was going to use Espeon."

"Sadly, Espeon is a male." Penna grimaced. "We...only found out after Weavile used Attract on Espeon the first time Minuit got Weavile and...Espeon used the restroom the male way." She and Kit shivered in disgust.

The third group came in, opposing Gossamer, daughter of Chenille the Troll, Gladiola, and Hamida Let, daughter of Hamlet, each girl coming from St Luther. Unlike the precious two times, the timer hardly started and Gladiola almost freaked out when she saw the entire heard of Rhyhorn stampeding toward her with high infatuation. Next thing she knew, she was the subject of their affectionate licking.

"I knew it..." Calico rolled her eyes.

"Kirlia, use Psychic!" To everyone's surprise, Gladiola had her Kirlia use Psychic on the herd to keep them still while she ditched her way out. The audience wondered what the hell she was doing until they saw Gladiola heading towards a Rhyhorn that stood alone from its herd, afraid from all the commotion. "I'm sorry you were scared," she apologized to it while scratching the back of its head, making it grunt happily at her. The Rhyhorn then followed Gladiola back to the herd right before the time was over and Gladiola made it to the freestyle performance.

"Use Aura Sphere!" Audrey and her Riolu surrounded the Rhyhorn with a glowing ring made of Aura Sphere and moved on to the freestyle performance.

"Awesome! Minuit and Audrey are both in the freestyle performance!" Ben and Mal cheered.

"Water Gun!" Due to her Pokemon Blastoise being a type advantage over the Rhyhorn, Paena was able to lure in many Rhyhorn and have them stuck in a green circle surrounded by water.

"And Paena Maui is the fifth lucky performer to move on to the next round!" Monsieur Paul announced.

"Cha-hoo!" Paena raised her hands in the air with pride while her Blastoise used Water Gun to create a watery firework that made everyone clap.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to witness these five beautiful girls perform with their Pokemon in unique, beautiful, and elegant ways. Once these girls have all performed, you will use your glow casters to vote for the performer you liked best. And the one who will get the most votes will challenge Melody the Pride Queen!"

 _Meanwhile, at the dressing room backstage_

Minuit put on the purple dress that Penna gave her and tied up her hair in a ponytail. She then made sure that her Pokemon were all groomed and accessorized. "OK, guys, let's do this!"

"Wow, you look great, Minuit!" Audrey complimented her. She was wearing a ballerina like dress version of her mother's iconic dress, with mixes of pink and blue. Her hair was tied up in a bun and decorated with a golden tiara. As for Riolu, Altaria, and Kaly's Meowstic, they wore matching ribbons, beads, and hats.

"Let's do this!" She and Minuit held hands together as they usually did with the rest of the cheer squad. They had to break it up when they saw Hermia and Paena heading towards them.

"Do make the most out of it." Hermia smirked with her Glaceon. She was dressed in a navel-exposing black circus trapeze dress with blue snowflake designs on the fabric, folded sleeves and tights, and blue high heels. Her Glaceon had a matching top and hair ribbon. As for Paena, she wore a traditional Polynesian dress made of green leaves, woven straw, and seashell jewelry that fit with her body tattoos while her Blastoise and other Pokemon, Bellossom, wore floral crowns and conch shell bracelets.

"Yo, Glady, how ya feelin'?" Paena called out to Gladiola. That's when the four girls noticed Gladiola looked unusually nervous as she sat on her chair, shaking and quivering, while her Pokemon tried to comfort her. At least she looked wonderful in her outfit: she wore a knee-length white off shoulder dress with angel sleeves and a skirt that matched Kirlia, a jeweled floral necklace and cuff bracelets matching the petals of her red Florges, a ribbon waist sash fashioned like the ribbon like feelers of Sylveon, and green high heeled sandals. Instead of her usual leaf tiara and blue elastic, she kept her Troll hair up with a pink elastic and a tiara with patterns of the leafs of Florges, the head ribbon of Sylveon, and the pink horns of Kirlia. In a way, she was dressed up to show her connection to her Pokemon.

"You're not sick, are you?" Hermia quickly put a hand on Gladiola's forehead.

"I'm more anxious about what will happen if I either win or lose," Gladiola said quietly. The other four performers looked at one another and realized what she meant: this was the freestyle performance, the one that would determine which one of the girls would face Melody the Pride Queen. Losing it would mean disappointing everyone in the audience who supported you and winning would mean getting the chance to steal the title of Pride Queen, which was so far a seemingly impossible task. After all, let's not forget that Melody has been Pride Queen since the first Pride Games. All the performers who tried to steal her title have been unsuccessful.

Minuit smiled ad Gladiola and held her hand in comfort. "You know, Gladiola, I don't really care about my odds of winning or losing. I'm just doing it for those who supported me throughout my reformation and for the one who raised me. And I'm sure that seeing others happy no matter how you perform is what you live for, right?"

Gladiola said nothing at first until she lost her frown and switched it to a smile. "Let's do this!" she jumped on her chair. Her Pokemon cheered.

"Look who's back on her feet," Paena chuckled. The door of the dressing room opened and an attendant came in. "Hermia Bartok? You're up, first," she said.

"Coming! Let's go, Glaceon!" Hermia and her Pokemon followed the attendant out of the dressing room and to the stage. For the next five minutes or so, the other performers were watching Hermia's performance shown live on the dressing room's TV screen. The daughter of Bartok and Periwinkle made a stunning performance by having her Glaceon use Ice Shard and Ice Beam to transform the stage into an icy circus ice skating rink where she and Glaceon did gymnastic and ice skating moves worthy of someone who spent her years performing in a Russian circus as a trapeze. Hermia concluded her performance by having Glaceon created a pillar of snowy winds with its Blizzard move while its owner spun on one hand with graceful balance and jumped back on her feet with a curtsy as Glaceon used Ice Shard to reduce the blizzard to sparkles. The awed audience applauded them.

"Wow," Audrey gasped. "Hermia's good."

The door opened and Hermia came back in with the attendant. "Minuit Sparkle?"

"Coming!"

 _A few seconds later_

"Next up is Minuit!" The platform rose up and Minuit and her Pokemon found themselves facing the audience. Unknown to Minuit, Penna was looking anxiously from the VIP booth.

"Espeon, use Psychic. Weavile and Sableye, use Ice Punch and Shadowball!" Minuit began to dance gracefully as she did back when she was a jeerleader at Dragon Hall while Espeon lifted Weavile and Sableye in the air with its Psychic move. The other two Pokemon used Ice Punch and Shadowball at the same time to create a series of blue and dark star-like sparkles that showered Minuit as she danced. "Weavile, use Attract!" Pink hearts floating and touching the audience came out. "Now, Rain Dance!" Espeon raised its head up and a large cloud with trickling rain hovered above the stage. Minuit clapped her hands together. "Weavile and Sableye, use Ice Beam and Night Shade!" The two Pokemon jumped in the air and used their moves to create floating blue and red diamonds. "Hyper Voice!"

Espeon jumped next to Weavile and Sableye and sung vocal waves out of its mouth that shattered the floating diamond into a series of sparkles. They landed next to Minuit and curtsied. "And finished!"

The crowd went wild. Meanwhile, the audience in the VIP booth was clapping a lot.

"That was awesome!" Kit exclaimed.

"She does live up to the name of Sparkle!" Junk agreed.

"She's worked so hard..." Penna looked so proudly at Minuit as the latter left the stage and the platform rose up with Audrey, who amazed a lot of the audience as Meowstic lifted her up in the air with Psychic, allowing her to dance in the air like a fairy while Riolu and Altaria used Aura Sphere and Dragon Pulse respectively to create shining blue and rose purple roses that hovered around Audrey.

Paena performed next and danced while her Bellossom used Solar Beam and Moon Blast that acted as artificial spotlights focusing on Paena while Blastoise used its Water Gun to create a fountain effect behind Paena as she ended her performance. "And you're welcome!" She finally said.

"I can see now how she's related to Maui," Bug Fly said drily.

"I know, right? Don't they ever learn?" Penna agreed with him.

"Please welcome our last performer, Gladiola Trollkonge!" Monsieur Paul declared to the audience as the platform rose up and lifted Gladiola and her Pokemon up on the stage. They curtsied to the audience and proceeded to performing.

"Kirlia, use Spin Attack! Florges and Sylveon, use Moonblast and Fairy Wind!" Gladiola and Kirlia both spun together like happy ballerinas while Moonblast and Fairy Wind collided, creating glittery images of Trolls that danced above the audience.

"Psychic and Petal Dance!" Gladiola held hands with Florges and the two danced together while Kirlia lifted them up in the air, making Florges use its Petal Dance move to create a twister of sparkling red petals around her and Gladiola as they danced. "Now, Swift!" Sylveon leapt up in the air and threw its Swift Move at the petal twister, creating glittery stars, flowers, and dancing butterflies that showered above them as Gladiola and Florges landed back on stage.

"Let's wrap it up with Psybeam, Grassy Terrain, and Disarming Voice!" All at once, Kirlia shot Psybeam, Florges shot Grassy Terrain, and Sylveon used Disarming Voice, and the next thing everyone knew, the combined moves created a purplish pink aurora borealis that circled above the audience before exploding into glitter due to the effects of Disarming Voice.

"Tada!" The crowd went wild as she and her Pokemon bowed to them. Her Kirlia jumped in her arms happily. "We had fun, didn't we, Kirlia?"

 _Minutes later_

Hermia, Minuit, Audrey, Paena, and Gladiola were lined up at the center of the stage with their Pokemon. It was now time to decide who will be moving on to challenge the Pride Queen herself.

"Now that you have witnessed these beautiful and elegant ladies' performances with their Pokemon, it is now time to vote for which performer you liked the best!" Monsieur Pierre held his glow caster up in the air. "Now, use your glow caster to vote for your favorite performer with her corresponding color. _Allons-y!_ "  
Soon enough, like fireflies in the night, a herd of colorful glowing lights appeared from the audience and made their way to the performers. The girls watched eagerly as the lights came to them in colorful ways: white for Hermia, purple for Minuit, blue for Audrey, green for Paena, and pink for Gladiola. Finally, the lights stopped glowing.

"As usual in the Pride Games, we will start off by saying the two performers who got the least votes." Two thermometer diagrams appeared above two performers, showing that they weren't exactly close to 30%. "Paena Maui and Hermia Bartok, I'm sorry to say that you are respectively in 5th and 4th place." Hermia sighed in defeat and caressed her Glaceon, who looked as disappointed as her, while Paena had her Blastoise blast her face with water to get rid of the bitter anger.

"And now, let us discover who among the last three performers will be facing Melody," Monsieur Paul directed is speech to Minuit, Audrey, and Gladiola. Everyone in the audience, from the normal bleachers to the royal booth and VIP booth, waited anxiously for the answer as the thermometer displays appeared.

"The performer who will challenge the Pride Queen is..." The thermometer with the most color was the one with pink, followed by the purple. "PRINCESS GLADIOLA TROLLKONGE!"

Gladiola cupped her mouth to hold back her emotional surprise. "That's my girl!" Branch and Poppy both shouted from the royal booth.

"I'm sorry that Minuit didn't win," Bug Fly told Penna with sincere honesty. She merely shrugged proudly. "She did her best and she at least made it to second place."

Meanwhile, Minuit and Gladiola shook hands on stage. "Congratulations, you did great," Minuit told Gladiola. "Now go out there and beat the Pride Queen with your cupcakes and rainbows!"

"You're going to give me a laughing fit before the final even begins!" Gladiola chuckled.

"Sorry, laughing fits were already taken by Jessie."

The four performers left the stage while Gladiola, her Pokemon, and Monsieur Paul remained onstage. "And now, it is time for the event you've all been waiting for! The performance that will determine who will be the Pride Queen of the Pride Showcases of the 4th Pride Games! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the current Pride Queen, MELODY!"

The crowd cheered as the lights directed to the top of the staircase, where Melody suddenly appeared. She walked down towards the stage in her scaled dress consisting of a royal blue mermaid skirt, a turquoise draped top, brown gladiator sandals with four different types of seashells on the straps, and a pearl chain belt. Her earrings, bracelets, and rings were made out of seashells, pearls, and silver seaweed. Dangling from her neck was her precious childhood pendant. Her dark hair was brushed into wave-like curls and was held back by a blue Victorian gothic headdress. Much like Gladiola was suited to represent her connection to her Pokemon, Melody was suited to symbolize her love for the sea and its treasures.

Finally, the Pride Queen was on the stage. "Wait, where are her Pokemon?" Mal asked.

"Melody is all about surprises," Belle explained. "Since she's the Pride Queen, she gets to start the competition first, and one of her well-known techniques is to pop out her Pokemon out of their Pokeballs when her performance starts."

"This could be much more challenging than Gladiola already knows," Branch said, feeling nervous for his daughter. "From what I heard, aside from being a pop sensation and the Pride Queen, Melody is also the Gym Leader of Atlantica. Her performing techniques are inspired by her fighting styles."

"Oh boy," Calico said.

"Since Melody is both the Pride Queen and the Atlantica Gym Leader, the competition between these two performers is a performers' battle," Monsieur Paul explained to the audience. "It is simple: the performers use as many Pokemon as they want and battle at the same time in a beautiful and elegant until the time runs out. Then, you, my amazing audience members, will judge yourself on which of these two will become the Pride Queen for her beautiful style of battling. So, who will be the Pride Queen? Will it still be our princess of the mermaids? Or maybe the princess of the Trolls will steal her title?"

"I'm not letting myself down easily!" Gladiola cracked her knuckles.

"Take caution of your words," Melody warned. "You're dealing with a Water-Type Gym Leader as well as the undefeated Pride Queen, and I'm not planning on losing my fourth winning!"

"Keep dreaming," Gladiola dared. "I'll just get back up again!"

"Ladies, battle begin!" Monsieur Paul quickly made his way to the top of the staircase so he was in a safe spot to watch Melody and Gladiola battle. The former pulled out four Pokeballs and threw them in the air with a twirl. "Make your mark and come on out!" The balls bursted open and four Pokemon came out in elegant landings, each of them accessorized with regal jewelry and garlands made of pearls and seashells and blue silk respectively. Vaporeon and Melody's Samurott were the first to land and to use Water Gun and Razor Shell to dig a large hole on the stage floor, filling it with water.

"She's turning it into a pool for her advantage!" Ben realized. Just as Vaporeon and Samurott were done, Melody's Finneon and Milotic landed in the pool, creating a gallant splash of water half the height of the theater. Gladiola looked ambitiously at her competition.

"Still getting back up?" Melody asked teasingly.

"Yep. Florges, use Vine Whip, and Sylveon, use Disarming Voice!" Florges used Vine Whip to create an unstoppable current of splashes that disturbed the swimming of Finneon and Milotic while Disarming Voice created a blast of echoing hearts that seemed to agitate the two Pokemon in the pool and Vaporeon a bit.

"Hydro Pump, Samurott!" A blue sphere blasted out of the mouth of Samurott and hit straight at the combined move of Vine Whip and Disarming Voice, nearly knocking Florges and Sylveon off their feet.

"Kirlia, use Attract!" Kirlia twirled up in the air and created a shower of hearts that affected Vaporeon, Finneon, and Milotic, who began to swim weirdly around the pool with pink hearts hypnotizing their eyes. Meanwhile, Samurott was the only one of Melody's Pokemon unaffected.

"H...how did you know they were males?" Melody began to look baffled.

"I noticed that Vaporeon, Finneon, and Milotic didn't react as fast as Samurott did when Sylveon used Disarming Voice." Gladiola petted Sylveon, who in return caressed her arm with one of its feelers. The princess of the Trolls looked back at the princess of the mermaids. "Sylveon and Kirlia are very attractive, aren't they?"

"Quite." Melody nodded. "But since it's girl power you want...Hydro Pump, now!" Samurott jumped in the air and sent another blast of Hydro Pump towards Gladiola's Pokemon.

"Psychic!" Kirlia jumped in a twirl again and used Psychic to block Hydro Pump. "Leech Seed!" Florges spit its Leech Seed at Hydro Pump, creating explosions of blooming blue and golden flowers. "Fairy Wind!" Sylveon threw a blast of fairy wind at the exploding flowers, which ended up creating a blast of sparkling, flowery Trolls that hit Samurott and caused it to crash into one of the pillars and make it unable to battle.

"Unbelievable!" Monsieur Paul exclaimed to the sound of the amazed audience. "Only three quarters of the time are left and Samurott is unable to battle! The Queen is now left with three Pokemon to face the challenger!"

Melody summoned Samurott back to its Pokeball while her other three regained consciousness just in time to see their comrade lose. "Thank you, Samurott. Take a good rest." She turned to Gladiola. "You weren't joking when you said you'd get back up, but now that means it's time to get serious. Finneon, use Psybeam, and Milotic, use Mystic Scale!"

The Pokemon obeyed: Milotic hit the pool's water with Mystic Scale and Finneon swam and hopped over the beating tail while throwing multiple shots of Psybeam, creating a blinding light of blue and pink light that nearly blinded Gladiola and her Pokemon. Suddenly, a ball of purple light emerged and destroyed the light that Milotic and Finneon were creating, causing a spectacle of glittery butterflies to fly away above the audience, who was still baffled as to what happened.

"K...Kirlia?" Gladiola gasped when she saw that it was her Pokemon Kirlia who created the Shadowball and threw it at the blinding light, thus saving her group. "D...Did you just learn a new move?"

"Amazing," Belle said. "Psybeam is a psychic move, and even though Kirlia is part-Psychic, it just learned a Ghost-type move, which is very effective against Psychic-type moves. Kirlia must have learned that move out of fear that its trainer and fellow Pokemon would be harmed..."

"Kirlia is by far the first Pokemon that Gladiola ever had..." Branch stopped himself when he heard the audience gasping in shock when, suddenly, a blue light filled Kirlia's body, making the Pokemon suddenly grown in size, become leaner and slender, changing the head structure and moving the horns to the center of the chest...Finally, the light disappeared and Gladiola found herself starting at...

"Kirlia...You evolved!"

"Unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen!" Monsieur Paul gasped. "Only half the time is left and Gladiola's Kirlia has evolved into Gardevoir!"

"A recently evolved Pokemon won't stop mine!" Melody said ambitiously. "Vaporeon, Water Gun! Finneon, Psybeam! Milotic, finish it with Scald"

"All of you, use Moonblast!" Instantly, Florges and Sylveon used Moonblast to block the current of water that Vaporeon and Milotic threw at them, creating a fountain effect on the waves. Gardevoir, however, emitted a rainbow blast from its head that disintegrated Psybeam into purple clouds, creating a show of a rainbow and purple clouds hovering above the pool.

"Signal Beam is effective against Psybeam as well since it's a Bug-type moves," Gladiola realized before bursting happily at Gardevoir. "Gardevoir, just how awesome can you get?" The Pokemon gave her a warm smile and nodded.

"Vaporeon, use Aqua Tail!" Vaporeon jumped in the pool and used its tail to make Milotic and Finneon rise in the air on a created fountain. Gladiola, however, did not give the Pride Queen any rest.

"Florges, use Petal Dance on Vaporeon's Aqua Tail!" Soon, Florges hit its red Petal Dance at Vaporeon's Aqua Tail, which turned the water fountain into a twister of growing flowers, trapping Finneon and Milotic on a field they couldn't swim in. "Now, Gardevoir and Sylveon, act together. Fly up with Psychic and use Attract together!"

Gardevoir used Psychic to bring itself and Sylveon up in the air, where they were safe to unleash their Attract moves on the now helpless male Pokemon. Next thing you knew, the three of them were once again wiggling like lovesick worms.

"Time's up!" Monsieur Paul announced. "Now that you have witnessed the performers' battle, it is time to do the voting!"

Melody summoned her Pokemon back in their Pokeballs. She looked stunned and quite exhausted. Gladiola and her Pokemon walked over to her. "Never in my years did I ever feel so outmatched," she said.

"In my defense, I had no idea what the hell I was doing," Gladiola admitted. She left Melody even more baffled before the latter got back to her composed attitude and the two performers lined up next to Monsieur Paul, who told the audience: "It is now time to vote. Light up your glow casters and decide...Will the Pride Queen defend her title, or will we have a new one? Ready, go!"

Lights began to illuminate the theater and straight at Melody at Gladiola in blue and pink respectively. Each of them stood still, holding their breaths as they waited for the lights to finally disappear and the spotlights playing around, increasing the suspense. "The winner...is..."

The spotlights stood still.

" **GLADIOLA TROLLKONGE! WE HAVE A NEW PRIDE QUEEN!** "

Gladiola was emotionally petrified while she faced the cheers of her classmates, family, friends, fellow Troll teens, and the rest of the crowd.

"Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la! Gla-dio-la!" The Troll teens chanted. They were then followed by the rest of the St Luther student body staff watching in the audience. "GLA-DIO-LA! GLA-DIO-LA! GLA-DIO-LA! GLA-DIO-LA! GLA-DIO-LA! GLA-DIO-LA!"

"Our little girl did it!" Poppy hugged Branch and cried in happiness. "Gladiola did it!"

"Melody...actually lost." Beast and his wife were shocked. "I never thought I'd live to see the day."

"Well, positively speaking we got a new Pride Queen," Mal smirked while, for the first time in forever, Monsieur Paul was placing the tiara of Pride Queen on Gladiola's head and giving a smaller version of it to Gardevoir.

The new Pride Queen looked at her predecessor, who merely nodded in approval and held out her hand. "Visit me more often at the Atlantica Gym, OK?"

Gladiola looked at her rival in surprise before smiling back at her and shaking her hand. "I'll be training real hard." The Troll Princess then turned to Gardevoir, who jumped to the Pride Queen and gave her a hug, making Gladiola cry. Florges and Sylveon joined in the hug as well. "What did I do to deserve you guys?"

Sighing was heard all over the audience until Gladiola dried her tears and got up to wave and smile happily at the cheering audience with her Pokemon. "That was the end of the fourth Pride Showcases event of the Pride Games!" Monsieur Paul wrapped it up. "We will meet again next time with our new Pride Queen, Gladiola! _Au revoir!_ Until we meet again!"


	17. Worth The Screams

Chapter 17: Worth The Screams

"Jerk!"

"Idiot!"

"Heartbreaker!"

"Second-grade Casanova!"

Some students raised their heads up when they heard a bunch of bickering coming from the hallways. Ruby and Mal looked up from their algebra test studying.

"I feel like my girlfriend senses are tingling," Ruby said. "Mal, why do I have a feeling that my boyfriend is in trouble?"

Somebody yelped and students moved out of the way when two people tackled each other like hysterical cats until one of them finally slapped the other on the face and the latter responded back with kicking the other in the stomach. The battling rivals turned out to be Martin and Ronilda fighting one another like a bunch of kids in a playground.

"Oh, real mature!" Ronilda snapped at him.

"That's coming from the buffoon's daughter who just shouted in a library? How rich!" Martin spat back at her.

"And this is coming from the guy who broke up with me!"

"No, this is!" A red aura came out of Martin's right hand, forming a red ghostly monkey that shrieked cruelly. He shot at it at Ronilda, who fell off the rail of the platform where the lockers were outside. Gasps were heard when she landed on a pile of mud on the floor and accidently twisted her ankle as she tried to get up. Gladiola, who was doing an interview with a reporter concerning her victory at the Pride Showcases yesterday, ran away from the interview and instantly helped Ronilda get back up.

"Martin, what is wrong with you?" Mal exclaimed.

"My problem? _She won't leave me alone!_ Do I have to write her an encyclopedia of how to leave me alone in the twelve languages I talk?"

"That's it, you two!" Mr. Barkin came in and grabbed Martin and Ronilda by the sleeves. "You two aren't the only ones with bad family feud scenarios, but you are by far the worsts!"

"You can tell that to _Stoppable!_ She annoyed me in the library!"

"You're the jerk who..."

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS!" Barkin snapped. "I don't care who did what, you two are both under placement a conciliation therapy that we use very often at St Luther. You two are going to have to work together for the next eight days as employees at the local Smarty Mart, and I don't care who ruins whose reputation or job, you don't have a choice!" He let them go.

"Splendid! Now I'm stuck with _you!"_ Martin hissed at Ronilda, who was being helped up by Gladiola.

"In his defense, Mr. Barkin, wouldn't it be much _saner_ if they just stayed away from one another?" Ruby asked Mr. Barkin.

"Negative, Kyle. You're forgetting another essential part about why two schools meet during the Pride Games. Cohabitation, mutual respect, and celebration of joined countries."

"Gee, how did that work out for you?" Ronilda rolled her eyes at him. "You're nowhere near your thirties and you're stuck with the second generation of the main guy you had the most problems with when he was in high school...OW!"

"I hate to interrupt this negative conversation, but someone's got to go to the infirmary ASAP!" Gladiola checked Ronilda's ankle.

"I thought your dad taught you first-aid techniques!"

"Ron, my dad's a survivalist, not a doctor."

 _Later on_

Ruby, Melgo, and Gladiola were sitting together at lunch with Ben and Mal and a couple of their friends when Maligna and Ariel came to them from the infirmary.

"How bad is it?" Melgo asked.

"It's twisted pretty badly," Maligna glared at Ruby. "Thanks to your boyfriend, our cheerleading captain is out for the week, which does not help for the upcoming Pride Games cheerleading competition!"

"Hey, I checked on the librarian and he told me that Ronilda was the one who purposely annoyed Martin to the point they screamed at each other!" Ruby snapped at Maligna. "And next time, tell your cheerleading captain that when a guy breaks up with her and moves on with another girl, it means he broke up with her and he's dating someone else!"

"Why, you!" Maligna began to grab something from her pocket. Quickly, Melgo interfered. "Say, Mali! Don't you have to go dress shopping for the festival tomorrow?" Her trick worked on Maligna, who began to freak out.

"You're right! I still need to find the perfect dress that will go with Speciosus' perfect tuxedo!"

"Half price at Club Banana!" Melgo added. This freaked out Maligna even more and made her run out of the building and straight to town. Something poked out of Melgo's hair.

"Glows Ruby? How long have you been in there?" Gladiola asked, interrupting herself from her and her cupcake's delicious 'conversation'.

"Long enough to witness that Maligna is as dumb to boys as Ronilda is." She sat properly on Melgo's shoulder. "Aces, Mel, for tricking her."

"Eh, Ron and I do it to my dad all the time." She and Glows Ruby high-fived one another, showing that these two were human and bonded Troll the same way Dusk was to Disco Jam and Ronilda to Gladiola. Speaking of Gladiola, she turned to Ariel.

"Ariel, how's it going to work out now that Ronilda's got a twisted ankle? You're the next more experienced cheerleader after Ronilda, will you be substituting her?"

"She asked me to, but I don't know if I can handle it," Ariel admitted. "I mean, hello! We're talking about the daughter of cheerleading star Kim Possible here!"

"And Ron Stoppable," Ben pointed out.

"Who cares? She doesn't even like her folks!" Melgo said exasperated.

"You sure you're not exaggerating?" Glows Ruby arched an eyebrow.

"I wished she did." Gladiola shook her head solemnly.

"Genny and Dusk did say about how Ronilda feels neglected by her parents," Mal pointed out.

"Honestly, I still don't see what there is to hate about being the daughter of a crime-fighting teenager," Carlos admitted. Jane almost gave him a stare.

"Well, let's use you as an example," Melgo said snidely. "Your mom is Cruella De Vil and she constantly abuses you, and since everyone knows her for being a reckless driver and Dalmatian fur coat maniac, everytime somebody sees you, they go like: 'Oh, look! It's Cruella's brat! Save your puppies or he'll turn them into coats too!'" Carlos bit his lips at the example usage, which made Jay snort. "Then let's pretend I'm Ronilda. My parents are super-wealthy and have awesome jobs, which means they can give me whatever I like. My main problems are that they are never around, I only get gifts from them rather than physical postcards, they're too overprotective, and since my parents were _so_ popular and are now disgustingly rich, everybody wants to take a picture with me or put themselves in a situation for me to save them, or send me a marriage proposal!"

"And don't forget the part of where you dated this guy who broke up with you because his family hates your family," Gladiola added in.

"Which is why I still like him!" Melgo finished her acting.

"Wait!" Ruby paused them. "You're telling me that Ronilda's main reason for still crushing on my boyfriend is because he **hates her**?"

"Hairy Hands was the first existing male to brutally reject her for her family and later on for her personal self! That had an impact on Ronilda, who was so used to being surrounded by her parents' fans!" Melgo said in the same disbelief. "So yeah, by bugging your boyfriend, she's basically telling him that she still likes him!"

"See, this is why arch-foes must never date!" Buffy waved her fork full of homemade haggis, making the others grimace and wish that Duff Killigan would send something else other than his daughter's favorite meal of meat horror. "Psycho-mumbo jumbo that drives each of the parties wacko!"

"Weird assonance aside, you are technically right." Melgo shrugged at Buffy, who stared at her with some distaste about Melgo's comment on the assonance.

"Uh, Jessie? What are you doing?" Mal's question got everyone else's attention and they saw Jessie walking with Minuit, Feige, and Dårlig until Jessie stopped and began to twist her head around Exorcist style.

"My lackey senses are tingling," Jessie said as she scratched her neck with one hand and held her tray full of food on the other.

"What's with the tangling senses today?" Gladiola rolled her eyes.

"Oh, no..." Dårlig put his tray on the table and covered Feige's ears with his hands while Minuit did a similar thing to Jessie. "Cover your ears!"

" **I'M SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWEEEEEEEEEEEEED!** " Penna's pierced shrieking shattered all the windows and nearly made all those with sensitive hearing deaf. Even Ben and co flinched while Gladiola and Glows Ruby got their hair spiked up and Melgo accidently spat her milk onto Mal.

"Good thing that after living for sixteen years with Penna and since Bergens hardly ever wash their ears, Dårlig and I are pretty immune to Penna's screams." Minuit let go of Jessie's ears while Glows Ruby shivered. "I'll never forget the day I accidently landed inside a Bergen's ear. Hygiene alert for the next week!"

"Yeah, well let's hope it's not a hygiene problem that Penna's dealing with." Ariel sighed as she got up.

 _Later on, in Penna's house_

After a massive quick from Melgo, the door burst open, destroying the barricading planks in the process, they gasped when they saw that Penna's living room was in an even bigger mess than usual. Clothes were piled all over the floor and the daughter of Voldemort was digging through every single pile of clothing with Mina and Felindra doing the similar thing. Noticing the newcomers' presence, Penna snapped out of frustration: "Seriously? What is it with Auradon not knocking before entering?"

"Not my fault if the house was barricaded," Melgo said drily. She looked around the living room. "Yuck! What a mess! It's worse than when Ron doesn't clean up her room after another Shakespearean tragedy of Martin."

Gladiola picked up some of the snake-scaled shirts that she ran into and grimaced. "Ugh, animal skin. Someone's got a bad taste..."

"Oh, shut up!" Penna yanked the shirts out of Gladiola's hands and threw them back on the floor before jumping on the sofa with sobs. "It's hopeless!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find you the right outfit." Felindra smiled uneasily before rushing towards Minuit. "Please tell me that she has better clothes than this stuff."

"Sorry." Minuit shook her head. "The only 'nice clothes' she ever had that weren't those thrift shop clothes that Auradon bothered to donate her were those badass villain clothes she wore back on the Isle."

"Like that dress she wore when she had us all captive?" She turned to Penna. "You know, that was one awesome dress! Who was your tailor?"

Penna just kept sobbing even after Minuit, Jessie, Feige, and Dårlig went over to her and tried to comfort her. "So, what's going on?" Ben asked Mina.

"Well...Let's just say that Penna's friend..."

"You mean the guy she's been helping out with the preparations for the Easter Festival?" Gladiola asked in sudden excitement.

Mina put her hands on her hip and rolled her eyes at Gladiola in exasperation. "As I was saying before you happily cut me off, Penna's friend finally stepped out of the line. He asked her if she'd be his date to the Easter Festival tomorrow."

They all gasped. "You got a boyfriend?" Jessie shook Penna on the shoulders. "How did this happen? When did it happen? **Why did it happen**?" Jessie dropped on her knees and wailed dramatically at the ceiling. "Oh no! It has finally happened! The moment we have all dreaded! Our boss is finally moving away from her empty heart and abandoning us for her long-waited happily ever after!"

"Jessie." Penna was sitting on the couch and speaking firmly to Jessie, who stopped her dramatic ranting. "Please quit the drama show. I'm just crying because I finally have my first date without having to worry about Voldemort haunting me...and I have nothing to wear!"

"I did find those gladiator sandals," Felindra suggested as she pulled out a pair of high-heeled gladiator sandals with the straps fashioned like slithering snakes. "Uh, I think I saw a similar pair in Granny Marlena's condo for retired ex-villains. She was a kung-fu expert who knew how to strangle men with her own legs!"

"Gee, and I thought my family was weird." Penna rolled her eyes before laying her head in her crossed arms. Feige gently held her shoulder in comfort.

"Look, if it's a new dress you need, then why don't you join me on a shopping trip this afternoon? I still have to get myself an outfit for tomorrow as well since I'm going with Dårlig." She winked at her boyfriend, who gave her an infatuated blush.

"Jessie, please remind Feige of what happened the last time I dared to go shopping!" Penna told Jessie, who instantly did a dramatic scenario.

"Ha! It's Penna De Mort! Run for your lives!" Jessie jumped and waved her arms in the air as if she were seriously afraid. "Please don't kill me! I'm just a mere idiotic employee! Take all of the outfits if you want!" She cowered and shielded herself for protection before getting back up on her feet, placing her hands on her feet, and giving a deadpan look. "Uh-uh. If you're not going to get anything that will keep my customers from running around in a frenzy, you might as well leave and never return."

"Hey, that actually sounded like a good imitation of Noir!" Carlos said. "She always shoos unwanted customers again with her sense of sarcasm."

"Yes, the fact that Noir shoos away unwanted customers again with her sense of sarcasm is the reason why I stopped shopping after my first attempt!" Penna angrily said.

"Look, don't freak out, I'm sure I can ask Evie if she can come up with a dress for you," Mal reassured her. "Just don't panic..."

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!** " A shrill scream came from outside, startling them.

"This really is the season to scream!" Felindra exclaimed as they all ran out. Students and faculty were gathering as fast as they could to one of the students' houses, where green smoke was coming out of the windows.

"What happened?" Ben exclaimed.

"Somebody must have set a fire in Martin's house!" Gilliard shouted. "I can't reach him on his phone!"

"And Louie and Alsarika went in there with him. None of them are responding!" Grinchelda whimpered. Mina went to hold her in her arms for comfort.

"Get back!" Ruby pushed her way through the crowd and ripped off one of the outdoor metal pipes. She hit the door with it, damaging the door and unleashing more smoke in the process. Three figurines made their way out as fast as they could: it was Louie King Junior and Alsarika Abu, the daughter of Abu, and the two of them were carrying an unconscious... "MARTIN!" She dropped the pipe and rushed to her unconscious boyfriend, who gave miserable moans of pain.

"What happened to my friend?" Gilliard rushed in as well.

"Somebody set up a fire in Martin's kitchen while we were in the living room and the smoke knocked him out!" Alsarika said.

"Move out, people!" Mr. Barkin pushed his way in. Louie and Alsarika let him carry Martin in his arms and make way to the infirmary. "And somebody get Dashi! I have a feeling somebody knocked only Fiske out on purpose!"

 _Later on, in the infirmary_

Fortunately, the smoke wasn't poisonous, so Martin ended up in a sleeping state after the nurse and Artemis managed to extract the smoke out of him through a magical inhaler. They then handed the object to Meirong Dashi, who proceeded to put the content in a glass orb. Ruby and Gilliard sat next to Martin's bed, staring at the son of Monkey Fist in anxiety while Meirong got a closer inspection at the green smoke that was moving around like ghost tigers roaring and running from within the orb.

"No doubt about it," Meirong said. "It's Tiger Breath."

"Tiger Breath?" Ronilda was still in the infirmary to rest with her twisted ankle when they all came in with an unconscious Martin, frightening her on the spot. To answer her question, Meirong merely held out the vial for Ronilda to see. Suddenly, the smoke glowed in the orb and Ronilda began to sweat and pant unusually until Artemis quickly covered the orb with a cloth, thus shielding the light and giving Ronilda her strength back. "What was that?" she asked. "For a moment, I felt like my energy was draining..."

"You just met Tiger Breath, a unique mystical smoke from Asia that weakens anyone with the power of Shinpi-Tekina Saru," Meirong said.

"The power of the mystic monkey...Mystical Monkey Power!" Ronilda slapped herself in realization. "That's why Martin and I seem to be the only ones affected by it: our dads made us inherit the MMP and that's why we're sensitive to this magic monkey version of kryptonite!"

"Created by those who saw the 'MMP' as the work of witchcraft that needed to be eliminated, the Tiger Breath can go from merely weakening strength to permanent coma if breathed in with high quantity." Artemis quickly checked Martin's pulse. "Fortunately, Martin didn't consume too much. He'll just be asleep for the next couple hours."

"Should we bring him back to his house for rest?" Gilliard asked. Ruby slapped him.

"Gilliard, do I need to splash you with more water? His house is being disinfected right now from the smoke!"

"Alright, calm down!" Ronilda said. "He was just..."

"Zip it, Ron, I didn't ask for your opinion!" Ruby snapped. This stunned almost everyone. To think that three months ago, the same girls who shared the same connection to Yves and who worked together to rescue their friends from Penna-possessed-by-Voldemort's clutches were now on hot water because they were the ex girlfriend and current girlfriend of the same guy they liked.

Penna quickly changed the topic. "Say, Ruby, isn't your friend Diamond out for the next couple days?"

Ruby turned her attention to Penna. "Yeah, family problems came up back in her hometown. She and the Ombre twins will be missing the Easter Festival. Why?"

"I heard from Mina that Diamond chose to rent an apartment downtown rather than share the guest dorms with the other St Luther students. Maybe you could ask her if you could borrow her apartment while she's absent. That way Martin will have a quiet place to recover in while his house is being disinfected."

"An excellent idea," the nurse said. Ruby smiled and quickly pulled out her phone in order to start texting.

"How come Diamond doesn't stay in the guest dorms?" Ben asked.

"Try being offered to sleep in a dorm neighboring the one of Grinchelda and Expertina and you'll understand," Meirong muttered. "I date a guy who can't even keep his room clean for five minutes, but that green Who and that pink experiment are capable of turning their room into a ticking nuclear bomb by just leaving around their month-old dirty socks!"

"Isn't that why we love them?" Mina gave a mocking smile at Meirong, who glared back at her stiffly as if she really wanted to pierce Mina's eyes with a pair of chopsticks. The door opened and Mr. Barkin came in with Fairy Godmother.

"Ruby, how's Martin doing?" The latter asked in concern.

"We got the stuff out of him and he's sleeping." Ruby turned off her phone. "I just finished texting with Diamond. She's fine that I borrow her apartment while she's gone as long as we keep it clean. Martin will be able to relax there."

"First he breaks your ankle," Mr. Barkin looked at Ronilda, "and now you try to poison him. You _really_ hate him that much, don't you, Stoppable?"

" **WHAT**?" Ronilda exclaimed.

"Mr. Barkin, you can't be serious!" Mina stood next to Ronilda. "You seriously think Ronilda would go as far as to poison her ex, _whom she still likes_? Either you're as crazy as Principal Melchior or Elias Ripley has been hitting you on the head too often during soccer practice!"

"Uh, no." Mr. Barkin rubbed the back of his head. "Sure, I won't deny he's been hitting on the head a lot lately." He went back to being cross. "But let's get real here. I see a connection of what happened last week and today. Can you guess what it is?"

"The last poisoning attempt." Artemis looked at Penna. "You got affected by mandrake roots, a plant you have a severe allergy to, that were used by your least favorite fan at St Luther, and now Martin nearly went in a coma with his ex being the main suspect? I swear on the River Styx that some parts in my visions are still fogged up, but doesn't it seem coincidental that two students at Auradon Prep have been the victims of assaults that seemed to be pinned on two students of St Luther, both of them being on the family enemy line?"

"Goodness," Fairy Godmother gasped.

"Artemis is right," Ben said. "There were always tensions between the VKs and the reformees, but ever since the Pride Games started, we've been the subjects of mobs and life attempts. Either this is just part of the conflict or somebody is trying to set us up against one another."

They were all silent. Was his theory...possible?

"Well, as much as I'd like to discuss about politic mumbo jumbo, I need to start taking Martin to Diamond's apartment. Gilliard, will you help me carry him."

"Sure."

"Hold on, Kyle and Moss. I'll help you out." Mr. Barkin walked over and picked up Martin in his arms as gently as he could. "Let's take my car. It will be faster and safer." The three of them made their way out.

"Well, I have a dinner date with Lonnie, so if you'll excuse me." Artemis politely left the infirmary as well.

"I got some biology homework to finish." Meirong left as well.

"Car to fix." Mina joined in as well. Soon, everyone except Ronilda, who still needed to recover from her ankle, left the infirmary to do other stuff. A sigh escaped her lonely lips as she thought about what happened. She remembered her internal dread when she saw Martin being carried in the infirmary while he was unconscious from a gas that could have poisoned him. Even though he broke up with her with such fury in the past and was now acting like a jerk to only her, it still was impossible for his arrogant words and actions of hatred to crush the emotions she still felt for him.

A sizzling noise was heard, and the next thing Ronilda knew, she was yelping at the sight of a fly turning into Sternia Snape in front of her bed. "I can't believe it! How many times do I have to ask you to not give me heart attacks?"

"Not exactly my style to knock at a cheerleader's door." Sternia sat next to Ronilda. "Listen, we need to talk. And before your ask, it's not about you 'borrowing' my ingredients kit for chemistry class." She looked at Ronilda seriously. "You and I are recently being pinned on for seemingly attacking VKs with whom our family issues are rather boiled up. The only thing is, I highly doubt that you'd go as far as to knock down the ex-flame you still like with a gas that can harm you as well. You might be on my most annoying people list, but I know you aren't that crazy."

Ronilda nodded. "And claiming you'd poison an unkillable demon with her worst allergy? Sternia Snape wouldn't be that stupid either." Seeing that they shared a similar motive, Ronilda asked: "Any idea who's trying to put us all into chaos?"

"I might," Sternia admitted. "When I came back from the hospital in tears after Principal Melchior said I'd be expelled from St Luther after the Pride Games, I stopped by the tourney field and heard a few voices bellow the bleachers. They mentioned switching my ingredients and tipping of Dubois as part of some plan to put the VKs and reformees at war and force Penna back to her old evil ways. But the strangest part? The voice of the leader sounded awfully déjà vu..."

"Should we tell Ben or the others about it? What about Penna?" Ronilda sat upward.

"Not until we get more evidence." Sternia pulled out a bottle with yellow liquid in it and showed it to Ronilda. "I have the cure for your broken ankle. I give you this and you help me out. How does that sound?"

 _Meanwhile, in Evie and Mal's room_

"Ow!"

Penna was wincing almost everytime Evie was accidently poking her skin with her sewing needle as she tried to create a halter dress for the Easter Festival tomorrow. Mal was drawing and Lonnie was occasionally looking up from her Auradonian History textbook to see Penna making a face whenever the needle hit her.

"Hold still," Evie said gently. "It's already hard wit your slippery skin."

"Sorry, I shed my skin a few minutes ago." They all looked blankly at Penna, who rolled her eyes. "I lived with basilisks who taught me to use magic to make clothing out of snakeskin! The only clothes Voldemort bothered to give me were those twice my size that you'd find in a dumpster."

"Judging by how he suited me the last and only time I met him, I'll say your dad has poor taste," Lonnie muttered. "That black dress still gives me nightmares."

"What was the latest nightmare this time?" Mal had heard from Barbara Dust on how Lonnie still kept getting nightmares ever since the battle in January.

"Well, this time I found myself chained to the wall and Voldemort was watching me getting stripped by two yellow vipers that turned by clothes into see-through bluelans before he forced that horrible love-potioned tiara on my head. Next thing you know, I find myself drinking a cup full of the yellow vipers' spit." Lonnie gagged, making Penna look offended.

"Hey, I happen to enjoy drinking snake venom!" she protested.

"What the hell?" Lonnie asked. "How can you even...No wait, it's the Horcruxes, isn't it?"

"Nope." Now that Evie was done with sewing the fabric together, she proceeded to check her box for jewels and ribbons that would go nicely with Penna's dress. "Since I'm part-demon, I happen to have an immunity for natural poisons."

"I see."

Evie showed Penna a collection of jeweled animals from her box. "I'm thinking of placing a jeweled snake right here on the fabric of your dress," she told Penna while pointing at the area of the dress between the neck and the chest, "and then adding jade beads by the traps and end of the skirt. How does that sound?"

"Like I'm a total loser when it comes to fashion and dressing up for dates," Penna said. "I can't even put on a nice white nightgown without turning it into a boa skin baby doll corset PJ in the middle of February!" She quickly looked at the jeweled snakes that Evie optioned out for her until she spotted a jeweled butterfly among the other jewels. It struck her the most with its violet wings, reminding her of the trail of colorful lights that Bug Fly created whenever he flew in the sunlight. She picked it up in her hands and asked Evie: "Could...could we use this instead?"

"Sure." Evie looked puzzled at first as she took the butterfly and proceeded to sew it on Penna's dress. "So, first date huh? You must be excited!"

"I mostly worry on whether or not I'll accidently jinx the Easter Festival and how..." Her voice trailed off.

"How what?" Mal stopped drawing and Lonnie closed her textbook as Penna sat down on a chair to catch some air as soon as Evie sewed the butterfly on her dress. "Penna, what's wrong?"

"Tomorrow's the full moon and Bug Fly and I made the promise that we'll only tell our real names to one another on that date if we managed to create a mutual friendship," Penna explained. "And...I can't even tell if I'm...dealing with a _real_ friendship here..."

"Wait." Mal suddenly smirked. "Penna, I think it sounds more like you **like** the guy."

"Well, he was awfully nice to me and didn't really freak out when I told him slight details about my dual personalities and paternal issues..."

"No, Penna, Mal means that you _really_ like him," Evie said.

"And he's so considerate about other members of the community. I mean, he turned the Easter Festival from royals only to public. Even the orphans can attend..." Lonnie groaned and got up to flick her finger at Penna's head, much to Mal and Evie's surprise. "Ow!" Penna covered the pained area near her right ear. "What did you do that for?"

"Radiance does this to Barbara to make her snap," Lonnie said. "Wake up a bit! We're saying that you're not seeing the guy as a friend because you like him the same way I like Artemis! Attracted! Head over heels! Infatuated! Smitten! **In love!** "

Penna blinked, stunned by Lonnie's piercing words. Finally, she scoffed. "I'm the last creature to fall in love with, Lonnie. Bug Fly and I are just friends, end of the story. Ze end." She said 'the end' with a phony French accent. "After all, he's one of the rare members of the opposite gender who's really nice to be even though I only told him 50% about my father, is so sweet with kids, takes great leadership in community events...sincerely believes that I'm not truly evil, loves flowers..." To the other's smug grins, Penna was unknowingly started to look dreamy. "Like a Prince Charming in bug armor for a hybrid... Warm hands... _Those dashing hazel eyes that make feel like I'm getting a heart attack..._ " Realizing that she was acting weird, Penna grabbed Evie's glass of ginger ale from the table, took a large sip and put the empty glass back on the table, and the next thing they knew, she spat the ginger ale in her hands (while doing it away from the dress) and rubbed her face with the soda, making her blink. " _What_ the hell just happened?"

"That would be called being boy crazy," Evie said as she gave her a towel to rub her face with. "Welcome to the couple zone."

"Guys, I can't be in love. It's just...impossible." Penna rubbed her face with the towel. She walked towards the folding screen that Mal and Evie kept in their dorm and changed out of her dress into her normal clothes, leaving Evie to finish up the dress. "My parents didn't love each other before they had be so I can't be in love." She took her backpack and gave Evie a small nod of gratitude before opening the door to leave. "Besides, I highly doubt that Bug Fly would seriously develop an attraction to me."

 _Meanwhile, at the Fae Realm encampment_

On a normal basis, Marius would just relax in his bed with a good book whenever he was in a good mood past sundown. But tonight, on the eve of the Easter Festival, he was more than in a good mood.

"I got my date and I'm gonna celebrate!" He sang to himself as he worked on sewing a few Night Violets together. "I got my date and tomorrow will be great!" He cut some teal ribbon and sewed it with the flowers. "I got my date, someone make the church bells resonate!" He twisted some wires and connected the violets and ribbon to a diamond bracelet. Once it was done, he kissed the corsage like a happy lovesick idiot. "I got my date! Viper Eyes, you'll like this corsage that you'll be wearing! I feel like it's fate! Someone start preparing the wedding!"

He stopped his giddy ranting. What on earth was he doing, speaking in rhymes about happiness?

Hearing himself speak like a goof about how happy he was about actually going out to the Easter Festival with his very first crush made him realize that he was also a bit nervous. Since the two had such a great friendship, they now had to tell each other who they really were, and from what he overheard Kit tell Junk, Viper Eyes wasn't really a big fan of royalty.

Marius put down the corsage on his desk. Dread began to engulf him. What if Viper Eyes ended up rejecting him if he went anywhere near the lines of 'What's up, I'm Prince Marius Bogfae and I'm enamored with you'? His heart would likely shatter. His eyes darted at a framed parchment that one of his servants gave him to cheer him up after Marius and Viper Eyes had separated when she came to Green Grove the first time. Since the Prince immediately became lovesick as soon as the wonderful maiden left, the servant took pity and made an illustrated portrait of the girl. Now, Marius could feel his soul getting more affected whenever his eyes contacted the gracefully illustrated ones of the portrait. He held the framed portrait in his hands and sighed as he thought of the girl with such a unique gifted personality.

Marius: _Right from the moment when I met her_

 _And got to know her,_

 _I thought she was stunning and I fell._

 _I never knew someone so radiant and brilliant,_

 _But she stands out among the millions._

 _Oh, how I wish I could truly be the beau of this mademoiselle._

"Your Highness?"

Startled by the sudden voice from outside, Marius quickly hid the portrait under his pillow since only 3% of his subjects knew of his crush (only the servant and the twins knew). "Come in!" he said.

The curtain of his tent pushed its way to let the Sugar Plum Fairy come in. "My Prince..."

"Sugar Plum, where the Hell have you been?" Marius cut her off. "Frolicking around and picking primroses? Because if you did, I'm telling my parents that you've been ditching your duties as Head Fairy of the fairy court!"

"Nothing of the sort!" Sugar Plum chuckled. "By Oberon's horns, I've merely been seeing my friend the Fairy Godmother. It's so rare to see her ever since she committed to educating the children at Auradon Prep."

"I see." Marius crossed his arms and remained patient. _Patience is a virtue to will bring rewards_ , his mind sent him memories of his annoying, matchmaking Grannyselda and this advice of hers being the only one that Marius didn't ignore or treat as pathetic just like he did with the rest of his grandmother's tips.

"Do forgive me your Highness, but along with everything you've done for the Easter Festival..."

"I can't take all the credit," he said in a nice tone. "I owe it to my friend."

"I'm sorry?"

Marius sighed. "You missed a lot. While you went to see Fairy Godmother, I met this girl from Auradon and she's been a great help for the festival preparations and a great companion during tours of the kingdom. I've seen almost everything with her! The sea, the kingdom's nature beauties, the library...And she herself is by far the most radiant and brilliant of them all!"

"I...Is she?" Sugar Plum stammered.

"Insecure, yes, but a genuine vision of compassion, modesty, cleverness, and beauty!" Marius flew towards one of his drawers and pulled out a Night Violet and daisy boutonnière that he made earlier for himself to wear tomorrow on his date with Viper Eyes at the festival. "She tries to keep others from harm even though she sees herself as harm to others, which a true sign of thoughtfulness. And her eyes...I feel like I was bewitched by a blue version of my mother's eyes!"

"Yes, it's true that you and the Queen have the same rich hazel brown eyes, but..." Sugar Plum tried to say.

"A sweetheart to the local orphanage. She even raised two girls on her own. That takes a lot of maternal instinct. Seeing her smile when she feels joy, blush when she's shy or embarrassed...I feel like I found a new ray of sunshine in my life, only it's teal and black colored with lavender sparkles."

"OK, please stop before I throw up!" Sugar Plum begged him in a nauseated tone, making him stop in his daydreaming. He took a deep breath in order to calm down while she walked up to him. "My prince, I can see that you are highly in love- nothing wrong there, but first time being in love isn't necessarily healthy. I need to speak with you on something."

"Sorry." The prince cleared his throat. "What can I help you with?"

"Wow, did falling in love make you more polite?" His glare made her go back to her original point. "As I was saying, along with everything you've done for the Easter Festival, Fairy Godmother and the rest of our Auradonian hosts were hoping that you'd grant the first dance to Lady Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle."

"That girl you were talking about back at the evening dinner? The one you failed to serve as a fairy godmother?" Marius put the boutonnière next to the corsage on his desk. "Why should I dance with her?"

"The poor girl has been having troubles lately and our hosts were considering that, as a way to prove they didn't think low of fairies, perhaps Penelope could be introduced to us Fae Realm citizens and that you, the soon-to-be king of the Fae Realm, would have the generosity to welcome her and bring her comfort worthy of a compassionate prince by dancing with her first tomorrow night at the Easter Festival. This could..."

"No."

Sugar Plum blinked at Marius as if he spoke to her in a different language. "I beg your pardon?"

"I see that you want me to give humans a better chance, and I get that, but my Auradonian friend already helped me see that humans aren't all bad and actually went with me to prove it while you were out." He arched his eyebrow at her. "I'm sorry, but it will be with her that I will be spending the entire Easter Festival with and not with some stranger that I barely know and that you want to set me up with. We are past your days of matchmaking."

"But..."

"You're excused." He pointed at the exit, making Sugar Plum lower her head in defeat and make her way out. She made one last nod at Marius, who nodded back at her as a way of saying good evening before pulling the curtains at her. He went to his bed and pulled the portrait back out.

"Oh, Viper Eyes..." He sighed before blowing out the candle on his nightstand. "Tomorrow I'll know your name and I'll be the luckiest prince in the universe!"

 _Meanwhile, in Diamond Echidna's apartment_

Diamond's penthouse apartment was one of the nicest and decent ones that you can only find in expensive buildings: smooth wooden floor, first-class kitchen, white carpeted living room leading to a balcony with a great view of the mountains, ocean, and city lights, a screening room, and five master bedrooms each connected to a large bathroom. With all the inherited jewels and the hero status of her parents, Diamond had no problem renting this apartment while she was around for the Pride Games. But now that she was briefly out of town and allowed Ruby to borrow it, the hotel staff _really_ had no problem with the daughter of Gotham's richest billionaire crashing in.

Ruby was putting a tray full of two teacups, a silver teapot full of Earl Grey, and a bowl of madeleine biscuits on the living room's glass table when the door of the nearest bathroom opened and out came Martin followed by steam from the tea bath that he took as soon as he woke up.

She giggled at him while his dry monkey feet walked through the living room. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She kept giggling.

"Liar." He smirked at her, knowing where this was going. "Please tell."

"Nope." She shook her head teasingly.

"Please don't test me, Tough Tigress." Martin called Ruby with the affectionate nickname he gave her ever since they met back on the Isle as he sat next to her on the couch.

"Why, is the silly Monkey Boy gonna pounce on me?"

"Suit yourself, kitten." As she teased him, he pounced on Ruby, trapping her between him and the couch. His arms hugged her waist with deep affection while he kissed more than a dozen times, occasionally taking breaks to hear her laugh.

"OK, I surrender!" She laughed by the time his affections were being shared with her neck zone. He stopped his actions to let her breathe while they sat up. "I was giggling due to your current dressing attire."

"My..." He looked down at himself and realized that this must have been the first time Ruby saw him as Martin usually was whenever he came out of a bath or shower: shirtless with just his black ninja pants and cuffs underneath a red-and-black robe that matched the one that Monkey Fist usually wore back at the castle whenever he and his son weren't sparring. Martin quickly ran his fingers through his wet hair and felt the drops hitting his bare skin. "Oh." He shrugged it off and quickly took the nearest teacup and poured some tea in it. Ruby watched in concern as her boyfriend drank.

"You're sure you're ok, Martin?" She gently caressed his right cheek and used her thumb to wipe off some of the watery drops, gaining the attention of his shadowy grey eyes. "After what happened with the Tiger Breath, I was worried..."

His hand rested on hers. Martin put the empty cup back on the tray. "I've dealt with this monkey-hating gas before."

"What?" She said. "When?" He said nothing. The only thing that Martin gave for a response was a tilted head and a facial expression that showed a barricade forcing tears back as much as they could. Just seeing him reminded her of the last time he saw him behave like this on the Isle Of The Lost. The eve of the blasted quest she embarked on with Sean, Abyss, Forkjølelse, and Proserpine.

 _'Don't even think about killing yourself out of insanity in front of me!'_

 _'What difference does it make?'_

 _'Because I don't want you to end up like my mother!'_

"Your mom..." Ruby remembered the story that Martin told her about his mother. How she was a sort of biologist who fell in love with Monkey Fist but began to get delirious during her pregnancy with Martin, thinking that Monkey Fist would never chose his family above his quest for power while he actually wanted both. How she wanted to abort until Monkey Fist managed to throw legal charges at her and raise his son alone with Bates and the monkey ninjas while she abandoned them. How Martin searched his mother for the sake of earning a maternal relationship, only to find her hating him on the spot, calling her own son a monster, and planning to hand him over to the authorities to be shipped on the Isle until he accidently killed her out of defense. How a majority of Martin's refined torso was covered by his mark of villainy like a tattoo of his past.

Ruby placed her spare hand through Martin's robe and landed it softly on his mark of villainy, feeling the vibrations of its powerful roots. Back in the winter, Voldemort had tried to use through Penna the megassence created from the essences emitted by the marks of villainy descended from Yaveske, but only Martin's mark wouldn't budge due to the mixed ancient magic he and his family got involved with. First, Martin had a grand proportion of inherited Mystical Monkey Power, then there was the fact that he was born years after his father was the Yono, and finally, he accidentally had shield magic gifted from Discord when the latter freed Monkey Fist from his petrified state. Talk about a complicated life.

"My mother used Tiger Breath on me in order to knock me out and send me to the authorities," Martin said. "I barely got lucky. Without knowing it, Discord's magic in me saved me."

"Gosh, I'm sorry." Ruby hugged him warmly, feeling Martin return the gesture and, in a controllable manner, inhale deeply while some of his face was buried in her brown hair.

"Let's just be glad that my father wasn't dating a sorceress," Martin said while pulling back. "Otherwise, the Tiger Breath would have been worse."

"How so?" Ruby started to worry.

"Tiger Breath is a unique magical gas," Martin explained, "that reacts depending on who uses it. For instance, if it's a mere mortal who uses it, the gas will just go from weakening to permanent coma depending on how much the victim inhales. But...if a sorcerer or any other magic wielder were to use it, I...I would have been brainwashed and forced to be the slave of the gas' user. And the worst part is that no matter what I've read or researched, I still haven't found a cure for this problem."

Dread filled Ruby. "So we're lucky that whoever threw the Tiger Breath in your house was human. I...I don't know how I could help if I end up having to fight a brainwashed you!"

"Ruby." He held her cheeks in his hands and did the same thumb gesture that she did, only he had to be more careful with his claws. "I might be the biggest jerk in the world with the worst record book on being social, but you mean the world to me as much as Mystical Monkey Power."

"Martin, you aren't a jerk." She patted him on the hands before giving him a sudden tone of 'I'm not kidding'. "You're just a natural sarcastic grouch."

"Am not!" Martin protested. Ruby arched an eyebrow at him, making him realize the stupidity of his words. "OK, maybe I am a _little_ bit sarcastic and grouchy."

" _A little?_ " Ruby rolled her eyes. "You hardly smile whenever I'm not around. Heck, this was you last week when Gilliard told you this stupid story about Señor Senior Three." She got up and stood in a stiff position with her arms crossed, her head slightly tilted, and her eyes looking bored as she said sarcastically: "Wow. I am so fascinated by that story."

"I see." Martin blushed.

"Hey, sarcasm and being grouchy is one of your adorable characteristics," she told him as she sat next to him again. "Just try to keep down by an inch, alright? The last thing you want is for Oxford to quick you out for bad behavior."

Martin nodded. After all the efforts he put through during the last few months, the last thing he wanted was to get rejected from his dream college after finally getting his application approved. "I'll...try to hold myself."

"Great. By the way, Barkin decided to keep you from doing that conciliation therapy with Ron at Smarty Mart ever since the accident...although Melgo had to first blackmail Barkin into removing the therapy unless he wanted the fashion police after him."

"Yes, because there's nothing more terrifying than fashion police." He stopped rolling his eyes when he noticed Ruby smirk. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"Yep." She smiled while her hand cupped his cheek and led Martin into kissing her back. Meanwhile, the couple was unaware that ten buildings away, on the top of a skyscraper, someone had been spying on them with a telescope before pulling out a phone and dialing a number.

"You scored an A on your experimentation," the same voice of the male from the duo of shadowy strangers who spied on Penna and her friends earlier spoke. "Your scientific replica of the formula of the Tiger Breath was accurately effective."

" _Any new discoveries that I should know of_?" a female voice different from the male's first companion spoke through the phone.

"Yes. Magic wielders can use the Tiger Breath to brainwash any wielders of Mystical Monkey Power. Our magical friend should be able to use a brainwashed victim like Fiske to the master's advantage. I'm off to give my report to the master. Do you think you can improve your Tiger Breath."

" _Oh, I can do much better than that. With my unique talents, I can turn the Tiger Breath into a weapon that we can use on anyone!_ " While the male was listening to the call, his conversation companion created an electric shock on the doorknob of the now empty Potions Chemistry classroom in Dragon Hall. The floor creaked as a pair of legs, one human leg and one robotic leg, marched their way into the lab class until their owner faced a compartment full of dangerous chemicals and ingredients that VKs once had to learn to use in order to create brainwashing potions.

" _As I've been taught through logical science_ ," the villainess smirked as she spoke to her ally from her computerized speaker, " _every problem has a solution._ "


	18. Festival for the Hearts and Mysteries

Chapter 18: Festival for the Hearts and Mysteries

Fireworks boomed in the air as the Easter Festival went on at Green Grove. By the time the sun was setting, everyone was having fun with the amusement at the stands, the eating of the diverse food sold, and the new music and dancing that came on almost every single minute.

"Here goes nothing!" Junk jumped on the water slide that went down ten rows. Kids were giggling when the water splashed their faces. Junk smirked to himself until he saw Gilliard surfing down on his own feet, not giving a damn about the big splash that ruined his suit. He smirked mockingly at Junk until a geyser of water literally soaked them up and they saw Expertina surfing on Paena, who had morphed into a shark. "Sorry, boys!" Paena morphed back into her usual self and high fived Expertina before the two ran off giggling.

Somewhere further ahead, people were admiring the trees that the Fae Realm visitors had magically grown to act as supporting pillars for the orange crystal chandeliers that emitted lights in the dark like a herd of fireflies. Elsewhere, Forkjølelse threw a ball at a pile of cans and beat Sean at the contest of who-won-a-prize-for-his-girlfriend-first. The son of Ursula looked in defeat while Fork gave Jane Hook a plushed humming bird, making her hug the prize and shower her boyfriend in kisses.

"Prince Marius has really outdone himself," Ben said while he and Mal watched the scenery and drank punch at the same time. "He's turned a usually aristocratic party into... _a work of art_?"

"Speaking of the devil, shouldn't he be here to brag?" Gabriel tried to look around with a pair of binoculars. "You'd think that an egoistic guy like him would at least show up to say 'See, this how you _really_ do this stuff!'"

"At least that's what Maligna's doing." Gitane pointed at the stage below, where Maligna was one of the citizens who volunteered to sing while others danced in rhythm and snapped their fingers as Maligna finished singing her song.

Maligna: _Ya better believe,_

 _I got tricks up my sleeve_

 _And I captivate,_

 _Cause I'm powerful and great._

Morgan Mallard and Winnie Witch: _Yeah, yeah, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh_

Maligna: _Ya better believe,_

 _I got tricks up my sleeve_

 _See me dominate,_

 _Cause I'm powerful and great!_

The three witches threw some magical dust at the ground, making them vanish before the awing of the applauding crowd. Maligna eventually appeared next to Speciosus, who gave her a lily flower and invited her to dance while Fletcher did some square dancing singing.

"Has anyone seen Penna?" Mal came in with Evie. "We still haven't seen her."

"Maybe she's running late?" Gabriel shrugged.

"Or maybe Bug Fly went to pick her up?" Evie suggested."

"De Mort? _On a date_? As if!" They turned to see Chad Charming snorting at the latest comment. His hair was still platinum colored due to Grinchelda's prank, but now...

"What happened to _you_?" Charles snorted while he and Gabriel laughed. " You look like Dyllen Degrainerez on a bad hair day!" Dyllen Degrainerez was this famous Auradonian comedian and television host of the top reality/TV talk show in Auradon, _So How's Your Day Dyllen?_ If VKs went nuts for _How I Met Your Devil_ on the Isle, Auradonian kids went nuts for _How's your Day Dyllen?_

"Excuse me?" Chad demanded at Charles. "I'm not the one with grandpa hair!"

"What can I say? When it comes to grey hair, I'm a natural hunk." Charles pretended to fluff his hair like a diva and did a mocking imitation of Chad. "I'm a star! I'm a Prince Charming! Help, save me from the monster hair gel! AHHHHH...HAHA!"

Chad's cheeks burned and he stormed off, most likely to check himself in the mirror again, while the others watched him run in amusement. The others laughed as he ran off.

"Remind me to give another tip to Grinchelda," Charles said.

"Sure, but in the meantime, I know someone who owes me a tango dance!" Gitane got up and grabbed Charles by the arm in order to lead him down the rows in order to prepare for the upcoming dance.

"I'm going as well," Evie said. "I promised Doug."

 _Meanwhile, at the private entrance of the Easter Festival_

Marius was pacing nervously at his private entrance that led straight to the dance floor of the Easter Festival while he waited for his date to arrive in the carriage that he sent out to pick her up. As the time of the rendezvous was approaching, he began to worry that she wouldn't come.

He looked at the corsage that he held in his hands. _We made an agreement,_ he thought. _I know she'll come._

The carriage finally came in sight. Marius quickly straightened his tunic and regained his composure just as the carriage pulled in and stopped before him. The goblin guard who acted as a footman rushed to open the door, letting the maiden in question step out timidly.

Marius felt blinded by the vision that just came out in a backless teal halter dress with jaded beads carved like snakes sewn onto the straps and ends of the sheath skirt, making the jaded snake look like they were slithering whenever the skirt moved. A jeweled purple butterfly was pinned between her dress' neck and chest areas. Her jewelry consisted of a pearl opera choker necklace, snake ear cuff earrings, and a laurel hairdress made designed like vine snakes and violets, which kept her waterfall braided hair up.

"I, uh..." He blushed. "You...Wow."

"First date as well?" Viper Eyes lost her shyness. "I mean, even as a friendly date?"

"Pretty much." He cleared his throat and showed the corsage to Viper Eyes, who marveled at the sight of it. "Traditionally, a first date in the Fae Realm means the lucky man has to give his fair maiden a self-made corsage."

"You _made_ it?" She asked in impressment while he proceeded to put the corsage on her right wrist. The new addition matched her dress perfectly. "Oh, wait." She smirked. "Now I see why Kit said you had a 'girly hobby'."

"Making corsages isn't a girl hobby," Marius said.

"Really? She also said that it's usually girls who make the boutonnières." She poked a finger at Marius' boutonnière playfully, making him feel his heart beat fast.

"Yes, so I have a...fascination with sewing up boutonnières and corsages." He blushed.

"Well, I really like it. Thank you." She curtsied before him. Marius smiled and bowed before her. He held his hand out. "Shall we, milady?"

 _Seconds later_

"We're screwed," Sugar Plum muttered to Fairy Godmother while Gladiola and her Troll friends prepared to get on the stage to perform for those who'd tango on the dance floor. "The Prince is supposed to be with the one his parents set him up with, but instead he's fallen in love with someone else! Your idea of dance of romance didn't work before we even tried it!"

"I'm sorry, Sugar Plum." Fairy Godmother said nicely. Meanwhile, the couples prepared to dance as the lights went a little bit dimmer.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Kit spoke through the speakers, "the Pride Queen and the Trolls would like to dedicate a special tune for all the couples doing the tango."

Some cheering was heard over the rows. The firefly chandeliers were brightened by the glowing lights of Petite's glowworm, creating a rainbow of golden and pink lights that illuminated the dancers in the dark while Disco Jam and Fabric played the beautiful tune of Valentine's Dance Tango on the guitar and the piano respectively while Gladiola sang.

Gladiola: _How a moment lasts forever_

 _When I dance with you, my lover._

 _Take my hand, and guide me through the stars._

 _We'll be like Venus and Mars._

Audrey was giggling as Jay made her twirl while Gitane and Charles did their tango just like they did back at the Halloween party months ago. Even Ben Tron and X.E.N.I.A Vi Rus finally gave in and proceeded to tango together in their own robotic way. From one of the rows just above the dancing floor, a few fairies unleashed loose petals of multiple flowers, creating a shower of colors that added in to the light, making it feel like the dancers were dancing in the middle of a fairytale.

"They look like they're having a great time," Mal said with a smile while she saw an amused Evie dancing with Doug, who still seemed to forget that the man was supposed to lead in tango. "But I don't see Penna anywhere."

"Wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even come with a date," a passing Hannah South snorted with Eleanor, making Ben and Mal grimace.

 _Make me twirl and throw my heart in a race._

 _Hold on to me and make me feel warm._

 _Join your heart with mine in an embrace._

 _We'll love. We'll dance like a storm._

"Oh my!"

"I don't believe it!"

Gasps of surprise and shock were heard all over Green Grove. Soon, everyone stopped what they were doing and rushed to see the new main event. For a moment, the dancers stopped as well until they joined in as well.

"What's going on?" Minuit and Jessie came to Ben and Mal, hoping to get an answer.

"I don't know," Ben admitted.

"Guys!" Ariel Bartok flew towards them just as the lights of the firefly chandeliers stopped shining and were replaced by more romantic blue and white lights and a shower of glittery marigold petals that came from Alma La Balba, who was sitting on one of the trees and shaking her hat above the dance floor with Dia Nathos and Kaly Astéria using their powers to create the lights while a couple started to make the lead on the dance floor. The male dancer made his partner twirl before holding her by the waist again and going back to the tango.

 _You make my heart beat_

 _Everytime you hold me in your arms._

"Goodness gracious, it's Penna!" Fairy Godmother recognized the female dancer of the couple while the present Auradon Prep and St Luther faculty got a closer look as well to the two dancers, who seemed to evaporated in their tango to notice the world watching them.

"Is that Penelope?" Sugar Plum finally saw Penna for the first time. "Why, she's as radiant as her mother...Wait, is that...Is that who I think it is?"

 _You make the air I breathe smell so sweet._

 _You give me love like a rose without any thorns._

 _I don't recall living a life without you._

 _So, my love, keep making me dance._

"Oh, my!" Radiance Nightmare gasped while she, her cousin, Lonnie, Flash Bat, and Barbara Dust saw the whole thing from the other side of Green Grove. "Is...Is Penna De Mort... _Dancing with Prince Marius?_ "

"Why...why did it never occur to me?" Sugar Plum chuckled as if she had just lived through a heart attack. "Who would have known that the prince's date for his first dance would be his..." Fairy Godmother quickly placed a hand on Sugar Plum's mouth in order to make her shut up and put a shushing finger in front of her lips, telling her to be quiet while the couple continued to dance with the others.

 _Bring me the love I never knew._

 _Wake me up from my trance,_

As Bug Fly continued to lead her through the dance floor and make spin in a twister of lights, petals, and warm emotions, Penna noticed that most of the audience eyed at her dance partner with the most shock. She didn't know if they merely looked baffled at him because he was dancing with her, the daughter of Voldemort, until it started to hit her.

"You're the Prince," she gasped while they held hands and extended their arms in order to do a tango curtsy to announce the soon-to-come ending of their dance.

"Prince Marius Bogfae of the Fae Realm, at your service." He winked at her before pulling her back to him and guiding her back to the normal tango dancing.

"But you said your father used to be evil..."

"I did. My father was the Bog King and he tried to exterminate love in the past." He made her twirl and chuckle a bit.

"So...your parents aren't aristocratic landers and..."

 _Guide me through the way of el amor,_

"I didn't lie on that part," Marius said. "My parents are aristocrats of the sovereign kind, they get involved with their subjects as it's their duty to think of the people, and they own the combined lands of the old Fairy Kingdom and Dark Forest, which makes all together the one kingdom that they wish me to inherit." He looked straight at her bluish eyes. "I never hid the truth from you. I just...merely said them in a way where I wouldn't get your disdain."

"Bug Fly...I mean, Marius..." She let him raise her up, making the skirt of her dress spin like teal ocean waves before they crashed back on the ground. "Why would I disdain you?" She blushed when she realized her words. "I mean, I thought..."

 _Make us dance through our true love's colors,_

"I heard Kit say that you didn't like royalty, so I didn't want to tell you until today," Marius explained. "Positively speaking, you aren't one of those gold-digging ladies I've had the misery of encountering."

"But...you've been so kind to me." He made her spin and caught her hands again. "I thought you'd be the one to hate me because... because I'm the daughter of Voldemort." Penna finally revealed herself and waited for the moment she dreaded the most: the one where he'd throw her off and treat her like everyone had in the past.

"Penelope...or...Which name do you prefer?" Marius asked.

"My usual name. Penna. Why?"

The dance began to come to a halt and the gentlemen proceeded to bow before the curtsying ladies.

 _So I can feel my hear beating faster,_

"I could never hate you."

Just like that, the words zapped at her.

 _When I dance with you, my lover._

The Trolls finally ended their song and the crowd applauded for them while the tango dancers left to make way for some group of Irish step dancers.

"So, without knowing it, Penna was friends with the prince?" Mal asked. "She's in for the shock!"

"I think it's _so_ romantic!" Ariel swooned as she flew above them. Some nearby cheerleaders from St Luther had a similar reaction. "The prince who hides his identity to the fair maiden to see if her affections for him are genuine..."

"Which leads to the kiss of true love and a wedding carriage ride through the sunset!" Hermia squealed as well and danced with her sister in the air. "How many kids do you think they'll have?"

"Forget kids, I mostly want to know if I can be one of the bridesmaids and who will set up the bachelorette's party!"

"Whoah, whoah, whoah!" Shari Sabertooth came passing by with a glass of punch in her hands. "What's this talk about marriage?"

"It's nothing, Miss Shari." While Shari didn't mind Ruby's friend calling her 'Shari', she still wanted students to treat her with her deserved adult respect, which is why Mal called her 'Miss Shari'. "Ariel and Hermia are just rooting for Penna and...well..." She pointed at Penna and Prince Marius, who made their way out of the dance floor.

Shari looked at the leaving couple. "Surprisingly, I find them to be quite the couple," she admitted. "Shame my cat senses are detecting a few thorns in the bush."

"Uh oh. Whenever you say 'thorns in the bush', it means that you think something bad will happen," Ariel said nervously while she and Hermia landed back on the ground. "Like when you had a feeling that Othello would accidentally break his ankle during soccer practice last October? He ended up not playing for the rest of the fall season."

"Yes, but this different. It's based on facts," Shari said matter-of-factly. "We are looking at two individuals who, based on reputation, are alike in characteristics but different in status. Prince Marius Bogfae is the soon-to-be king of the Fae Realm who comes from the union of two rulers who made a big difference by uniting two separate kingdoms into one. Allying his kingdom with Auradon would be efficient in power, trading, and correspondence.

"But then for Penna, it's a much more complicated story. She was born to a loveless union between Lord Voldemort, the most feared villain and sorcerer in the entire universe, and a demon he tricked into a cheating pact. Penna, unlike the rest of her VK peers, had no choices for deciding her fate because her father spent decades twisting her into a beast that people loathed as much as they did toward her father and thus have more lack of trust towards her efforts of reforming. Not to mention that because of that, she's a criminal who's being cautiously watched upon by the authorities now that she's no longer on the Isle.

"So let's look at things in this conclusive manner: one side is that they can't be together because of coming from separate worlds, Marius can't just neglect his royal duties just to be with Penna, and Penna can't run away from the authorities to be with Marius because she's a criminal. Even if she could go to the Fae Realm with him, possibly marry him and rid most our world of the villainess they hate the most, there's no way that Auradon would want to trust or collaborate with a kingdom ruled by her. Her chances to find happiness with him might be...slim."

The students said nothing as they heard the coach's words of wisdom. They rang with truth after all.

"I see your point, Coach Sabertooth," Ben said politely, "but isn't there any way to see that Penna can have happiness with him? Ensuring a chance to the VKs for a better life has been one of my top goals..."

Mal snapped her fingers in realization. "I might know someone who could give us a hint of the future." She pointed in the air, where Alma was high-fiving Dia and Kaly. However, Mal's finger was specifically pointed at Kaly. "Kaly Astéria's mother is Kalandre, the elfish demigoddess with prophetic powers. She's pretty much like Artemis for not wanting to share her visions..."

"Yeah, imagine the spoiler alerts." Hermia rolled her eyes at Ariel. "I bet people would stop reading this story if we just revealed everything that's going to happen."

" _Point is_ ," Mal said, frustrated that they interrupted her, " Kaly will willingly tell us a prophecy if it's an emergency. And in this case, knowing Penna's fate is an emergency."

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Purple?" Shari asked. "Because from what Ruby told me, Kaly Astéria was one of those VKs who got their marks of villainy stripped by Penna for her previous world-domination conquest?"

"Maybe we should check with the cousins instead?" Hermia suggested.

"Those hippies? Are you out of your mind, Bartok? I can't even get these guys to run laps without hearing them beat drums and speak in rhymes about how the universe will curse my career!" Shari complained.

"I...think we should go with the sanest," Ben concluded.

 _Meanwhile, at Auradon Prep_

Only three people did not go to the Easter Festival at Green Grove. Instead of going out there to party, dance, and have fun, they were inspecting the area beneath the bleachers at the tourney field were Sternia heard the three suspicious voices. Accompanied with Ronilda, she watched as their classmate and fellow investigating partner Nicky observed the dried up footprints with one of her analyzing devices.

"No doubt about it," Nicky said as she got up and downloaded the information from her device into a USB key. Ronilda and Sternia watched with discomfort as Nicky lifted up her eye-patch and hid the USB key in the cyber-robotic left eye she possessed. "Two of the three sets of footprints that I detected nearly match the trademark shoe soles of two rogue criminals."

"Are they from the Isle?" Sternia asked.

"Worse. The Raft." Nicky put her patch back in place and tapped a few application son her device in order to show the others a holographic 3D map of an ocean, with a strange metallic structure that looked a fixed Titanic located in the center of an abyss. "18045 feet below the surface in the area of the Pacific Ocean between Oceania and Alaska without any nearby islands, the Raft is a secret prison that my father Nick Fury and some of his colleagues designed for the villains who couldn't be controlled and needed more refined confinement."

"What do you mean?" Ronilda asked.

"Unlike the villains on the Isle Of The Lost, these guys couldn't be contained by the magic of the barrier," Nicky explained while they walked away from the tourney field and towards Malevia Village for more clues. "Back when the Isle was first built, my father and the government tested the barrier's effectiveness on ten villains to see if any could get out."

"And let me guess. Those who did manage to escape despite the barrier are locked up in the Raft." Ronilda guessed.

"Pretty much. But the residents in the Raft aren't like those on the Isle: they've got more experience, more guts...and more power. That's why the Raft was redesigned with a structure made out of solid titanium and a magic neutralizing mineral from Greece and located many levels beneath the sea. That way, no one with magical powers could destroy the walls and nobody else could escape with all the hidden microscopic cameras. The only way in and out of the Raft is through a submarine that only does 7 round trips a week. Unfortunately, three of the worst prisoners on the Raft disappeared without a trace."

"Maybe they were aided?" Sternia suggested.

"Yeah. I've seen it in those movies when a criminal in prison has an accomplice from outside who dresses up as a guard and helps him escape!" Ronilda added, which only made Sternia roll her eyes about the superficial drama of Hollywood.

"I wish..." Nicky muttered. "Whoever broke them out was smart. No triggered alarms, nothing spotted in the cameras, no water leaking, and no man down... It's only when it was chow time that the guards found the three cells unattended."

"Maybe it was that other voice I heard," Sternia said. "He seemed to be treated like he was the master of the other two."

"I'd bet that whoever it was is the one behind the escape of those three criminals." Nicky jumped over the fence that surrounded Martin Fiske's house. Since Martin was staying with Ruby in an apartment downtown for now, the house was completely empty. Recalling that the Tiger Breath exploded in the kitchen, they turned around the house until they found the only window in the back that showed the kitchen. Ronilda picked up Reedy from her pocket. "Do your thing, Reedy."

"Aye!" The naked mole rat began to pick on the lock of the window, opening it for the girls to step in. The kitchen looked absolutely normal: the black tiled floor was swept and polished, the stove and oven were shining without a single speck of grease, the dishwasher was completely empty, the red-painted cabinets with monkey handles were full of clean dishes, and all the foods were neatly organized in the fridge.

"Wow. Even at handling his own kitchen, your ex is a complete control-freak." Nicky commented when she noticed the arrangement of the foods in the fridge. "No signs of meat, fruits and vegetables arranged based on vitamin and calories amount..." She closed the fridge and looked at the closet next to her: it was full of perfectly arranged bags of... "Wow! He's even got his tea categorized based on where it was manufactured!"

"Hey, let's focus!" Sternia scolded them. "We're supposed to look for clues! Not fan over a hunk!" A squealing noise got their attention and they saw Reedy jumping nervously on a tile that made strange, creaking sounds. Ronilda knelt down and knocked on the tile her pet was jumping on. "That's weird. It sounds...hollow." She pulled out a Pokeball from her pocket. "Greninja, I need you!" The ball burst open and the familiar blue Pokemon came out. "Greninja, can you pull out this tile?"

Greninja nodded solemnly and used its Night Slash move to cut around the edges of the tile and sticking its tongue at the tile, pulling it back by force and leaving it for Reedy to hold in its little paws. "Thanks, Greninja. Return," Ronilda gratefully thanked her Pokemon as she summoned it back in its ball while Sternia had a look at the apparent hole they found hiding beneath the tile. It was only big enough to put one's hand in it, so Sternia put a hand in there and moved it around until she felt something and pulled it out. Ronilda began to look dizzy as Sternia pulled out a small china plate full of black incense with familiar smoke.

"No doubt about it...That's Tiger Breath," Ronilda panted. Nicky, in the meantime, analyzed the incense and the plate.

"Whoever used the Tiger Breath was clever. Digging a small hole covered by a tile, hiding a plate full of Tiger Breath carbonated into incense...That's how the smoke inexplicably bursted in Martin Fiske's kitchen." Once she put some of the incense in a test tube for evidence, she threw the rest down the sink and flushed it away, making Ronilda feel better.

"Any idea on who put the plate in there?" Sternia asked as she picked up Reedy and handed the rodent back to its master.

"Unfortunately, yes." Nicky glared at the china plate and its particular design. "I know only one criminal in the Raft who has a passion for collecting china plates with pictures of the Swedish Alps...And that's one of the three criminals who escaped the Raft." She turned to look at the other girls. "Auradon is up for another secretly orchestrated war."

 _Meanwhile, back at Green Grove_

Penna and Marius walked on the small shore that neighbored Green Grove. The full moon illuminated the dark ocean like a thousand white diamonds while the waves silently splashed on the sandy beach as they walked a little further away from the festival for some peace and quiet.

"It's very much the first time I ever get to see an actual ocean during its nocturnal glory," Marius broke the silence. His feet stopped walking in order to let their owner stand and watch the waves. "The Fae Realm only has a few rivers, but no oceans."

"Have you ever tried following the river's current downstream?" Penna asked. "Usually it leads towards the ocean..."

"The ways of nature back in my home are far more different here." The prince bent down and scooped some sand in his hands while Penna watched him look through it with his fingers and find some hidden seashells. "Imagine that you were approximately the size of your thumb and placed in the middle of the forest here in Auradon. You'd find yourself surrounded with small grass turned into green walls, mere rocks becoming boulders that you use to build your house, trees that become giant wooden mountains, and then the water that flows through those small cracks in the earth that you used to think as insignificant when you were bigger...Once you shrink, they appear like rivers that lived hidden from your life." His hands were now empty of sand and full of mini seashells he managed to find. " _That's_ what my home is like."

"Is that why you have such a knowledge on nature?" Penna asked.

"More so. Another partial reason is because I'm part-fairy and part-goblin." He held Penna's right hand in his and slightly hovered his left one over the palm of her hand. "Two completely different worlds, unlike from one another in knowledge and appearance..." His palm finally touched hers, giving quite a sensation through the skin. "But they become so much more when they join together."

Penna blushed when her brain tried to interpret what Marius said while the latter removed his hands and put the seashells back on the sand. "Such beauties. I'll have to remember to collect some for..." He stopped himself and looked at Penna with genuine sympathy. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend Svjetla's memory."  
"What is there to get offended with?" She sat down on a nearby tree trunk that seemed to have washed onto the shore during a storm years ago. "Thanks to Voldemort, she died a few seconds after giving birth to me..."

"And the only thing she could give you was her maternal love."

His unexpected words stunned her. "How...how did..."

He sat down next to her and clasped his hands together. "Sugar Plum knew your mother in the past. She said that your father kept any fairies from acting as your godmother until you turned twenty. By that age, no one needs fairy godmothers."

Penna sighed in guilt. Her eyes stared glumly at the sea. "My paternal was like a poison: once you know who is he or if you had the misfortune of getting involved with him, everyone treats you like a victim of a plague or like a contagious disease..." A hand raised her chin up and made her bluish eyes look up at his hazel eyes, which seemed to shine like golden carats under the moonlight despite the obvious contrast in color. Penna felt his thumb gently rub her cheek, sending warm sensations throughout her skin.

" _Everyone_?" Marius asked her quietly.

"I..." Penna recalled all the memories of the people who never treated her like a plague. The basilisks who raised her. The minions who mutually treated her like finally. Her first crush, which she ended up killing. The rare VKs, Auradonians, and reformees out there who actually worried for Penna. And now...

"Well, yes...We can say that there were _some_ hints of approval." She said casually. Really, her mind was screaming. _WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ME TODAY?_ "By the way, I'm...sorry I made you feel uncomfortable with my entire 'I-don't-like-royalty' drama."

"No offense taken." He nodded. "But, if I may ask just to get rid of my curiosity...why do you disdain royals?"

It was a topic Penna didn't think she'd be talking to anyone other than Minuit and Jessie and now the dead Bloodyle. She let out a long sigh before finally revealing her reason. "My father never let me near the other children when I was little, so I was used to being cooped up in my bare room while all the other boys and girls in the village neighboring my father's estate played, lived, and went to school together. Unlike their parents, Voldemort didn't bother enrolling me in school to learn and make new friends or buying me toys or reading me a bedtime story. The only things he _could_ do was harass me into learning dark magic, force me to kill people to make Horcruxes rather than buy me a birthday cake, and leave most of the actual child-raising experience to the basilisks. At least they bothered to care for me more than Voldemort could and wanted.

"When I was five, my basilisk foster sibling Bloodyle did something that Voldemort could have her skin for: sneaking into town to steal a storybook from the bookstore. The book was entitled _The Fair Maiden And Her Handsome Hero_."

"Ugh," Marius grimaced. "My aunt Dawn read it to me at a similar age. Its unrealistic concepts of romance and chivalry grossed me out."

"No arguments there." Penna agreed. "I hated the book once Bloodyle read it to me and we burned it afterwards. What really displeased me about the story was about the maiden's grand luck of meeting by chance a man who happened to be both handsome, brave, compassionate, and kind. Her ideal man. Her soulmate. The _Prince Charming_ who'd ask her hand in marriage, wed her before the rays of sunset, and show her a whole new world that she never imagined." She shrugged. "So picture me in my situation and factor in the entire _Prince Charming_ thing. And then when it came to the first and last guy I developed...unexpected emotions for, I start to fawn over actually finding my own Prince Charming until BAM!" She clasped her hands together as if to imitate an explosion and got up on her feet. "Dream boy's dead! Bye-bye dreams and welcome to a world of evil, vengeance, and desire to kill everyone, especially when 89% of that everyone are girls, commoners or actual princesses, who have the men of their dreams!" She sighed. "I'm pretty much the expected vision of evil."

"The expected vision of evil?" Marius asked.

"I'M A VILLAINESS!" Penna raised her hands in exasperation. "I MURDER PEOPLE! I DESTROY VILLAGES! I TURN WATER INTO BLOOD! I RIP BABIES FROM THEIR PARENTS! I SWITCH STREET SIGNS! AND I DON'T GET THE GUY!" She gasped for air and calmed down. "That's my reason for hating royalty. So, do you hate me?"

She expected him to get up and walk away, screaming to everyone that he was dealing with a madwoman. Instead, she just heard him give an amused chuckle. "You're _really_ terrible at convincing me to hate you," he said.

"Convinced?" She was baffled. "I'm used to getting hated on the spot!"

"Right, and what did I tell you when we ended the dance earlier?" He got up and walked towards her until she was certain that only three feet separated her from the steady heartbeats she could hear very well.

"You said that..." Her eyes widened when she recalled the words he said. _I could never hate you_. She blushed fiercely. To think that Mal, Evie, and Lonnie were teasing her about unknowingly crushing on Bug Fly and now it turns out _she_ was being crushed on by the Prince of the Fae Realm. "You're sure your parents... don't already have someone set up for you? I mean, aren't princes supposed to marry princess?" She then realized her words. "Oh, wait. I do know royals dating commoners...Not the point!"

"My mother dated a goblin who tried to destroy love and hold her sister for ransom in exchange for a love potion. Turns out that he had a better taste for warrior females dressing up in pants, wielding swords, crashing through his window, and punching him in the face." Marius slightly arched an eyebrow while his right hand caught Penna by the waist before she could accidently trip in the water. It had already sent her thrills through her skin when he did it back at the dance, but for some reason now she felt her guts burning up and her legs squeezing against one another. "I don't think they'd be judging a misunderstood sorceress based on nasty rumors. Besides, you're a new you now and not the bad Penna or the good Penna. The Penna in between... _that_ 's the one I like."

"But...what about Ben and the U.N? Your kingdom could lose the chance of allying with Auradon because of me!"

"I'm sure we can work it out." He caressed her hair, sending her more shivers. That's when she suddenly felt her two sides' senses reacting at the same time.

 _You know, Voldy ain't exactly next door,_ the Bad Penna said. _This is like, the second chance we have of getting a chance of happiness._

 _I've got to agree with you on that one_ , the Good Penna agreed. _We could finally have our Mandire Sullivan_...

Penna was ignoring her sides' mental discussion, for now the hand that Marius had on her hair was gently pushing her head towards his. Her heart began to inexplicably beat faster than usual and her mouth began to have a sudden feeling begging to be aroused. The breaths got warmer as the distance decreased in inches and it was only a matter of time before he ended up pressing lips on hers.

 _A few more inches! A few more inches! A few more inches!_ Her brain and heart were screaming. _Almost there!_

SPLASH!

Out of nowhere, a ten-foot-tall wave crashed onto them and broke up the embrace. The two of them fell into the sand, all soaked up and now feeling grainy from the sand.

"Oh, no!" Penna saw the state of her dress. "I promised Evie I wouldn't ruin the dress she made on the first night I got to wear it!"

"We'd better get back to get you a warm towel and clothes." Marius helped her get up and took her back to Green Grove. As they walked away, the two of them were unaware that the unexpected wave was caused by an invisible submarine that swam its way out of here.

" _ **That**_ _was way too close for comfort!"_ The voice of the owner who broke into the Dragon Hall Potions Chemistry lab spoke up as she watched the couple walk away through her periscope. She turned on her computerized speaker and spoke to her male associate on the other line. " _Warn the master. For a moment, De Mort nearly fell for the charm of that Fae Realm hybrid!_ "

" _Let's not tell him yet_ ," the voice on the other line advised. " _He'll lash at us if he finds out that he has a new obstacle around the corner. We need to make sure that his plans go as desired without involving that hybrid._ "

" _When does he want to strike next_?"

" _Hopefully? At the Pride Games Tri-Relay at the end of April. Why?_ "

" _Because aside from a few chemicals, I'm bringing back a new pet that I'm sure he'll adore._ "


	19. Prophecies, Exchange Student, and Friend

Chapter 19: Prophecies, Exchange Student, and Friendly Rivals

"I don't know what was wrong with me," Penna told Ruby while the two of them walked to class together the next day. "It's like...my senses stopped to think rationally and I was in a trance before that waved crashed on us out of nowhere!" Penna was explaining to Ruby, who listened with thought, about what had happened to Penna with Prince Marius yesterday during the Easter Festival. Ruby finally made Penna pause in her tracks and make sure that they weren't standing in the way of other students wanting to go to class.

"Uh, Penna?" Ruby made sure that nobody else was listening. "You couldn't tell that the prince...I mean, that Marius wanted to kiss you?"

Penna began to look like she had been hit by thunder from Benjamin Franklin's experiment. "What...He...I... That can't be..." Penna went into a state of chuckling nervously. "Ruby, you can't be serious! I mean, sure he said he _liked_ me, but why would he even want to...canoodle with me?"

Ruby sighed and put a hand on Penna's shoulder in exasperation. "We really need to find you a therapist," she said. "Penna, that's just the way guys function! As soon as he starts seeing you for something more, he then begins to expect more from you." The blank look on Penna's face made her groan even more. "Ok, let's do it with a scenario. Uh..." She snapped her fingers. "I got it! Let's pretend that I'm Bayen and you're you! Remember how he had an unrequited crush on you?"

"Yes, I also remember the amount of times I gave him bruises and scars just for him _blinking_ at me," Penna groaned drily at the memories. Back when she had her 'treacherous' Death Eater-born minions during her last scheme, if there was one minion she really hated having around but couldn't find the time to waste for killing was none other than Bayen Lestrange, the son of Bellatrix Lestrange. Just like his mother was Voldemort's most faithful follower and hopeless admirer, Bayen had been hopelessly loyal to Penna due to his mad love for the sorceress who refused to have any romantic involvement ever since Mandire Sullivan. "Please continue before I plunge into another one of my abysses of miseries."

"Right. So, I'm Bayen and I like you as more than just friends. That's why I expect _you_ , my crush, to get into the next steps: kissing for affection sharing, going out together more often for dinner, admiring my physique, instantly accepting my marriage proposal, and hopefully letting me deflower you so that we can add some little ones to the ideal married life picture."

Penna gulped. "This...this how your relationship with Martin is?" She exclaimed.

"Hello, Martin is more decent than this!" Ruby retorted. "I'm making references to the last guy who had a creepy crush on me!"

"Is it that Corbeau guy? Because I still don't see what you saw in him."

"I know," Ruby grimaced. "No, it's another guy. You know Franz Schmidt, right?"

"Oh, yeah! Now I remember! Sharon hit him with her sharp shoes and I told him to shut up when he was screaming. Yeah, what _did_ happen to him?"

"Ironically? He ended up with my boyfriend's creepy stalker, Amelia Hall. Turns out that he has a soft spot for Pandaroo from the Cuddle Buddies."

Penna made a face as she tried to picture the couple: DNAmy's fourteen-year-old pink-dressed, hug-loving, genetic splicing terror daughter standing next to the Red Skull's seventeen-year-old blonde, muscular, rough, jerk jock attitude contaminated, and ex- HYDRA general son, and the two of them fawning together over a bunch of those creepy hybrid plush toys. Next thing Penna knew, she pictured Amelia strapping Franz on a couch and forcefully feeding him ginger snap cookies while six babies played with the monsters that their granny created from her lab.

"Wow." She said. "I actually _pity_ them. Wait, you're not saying that Marius would do a similar thing, are you?"

"I don't know what goes on in your head, Penna." Ruby shrugged. "I can't tell you what to expect."

"OK, but what about you? What do you think Martin's expecting from you?"

"I don't have to think." Ruby grinned. "I already planned it out!" She pulled out a well-illustrated sketchbook and flipped through the pages to show Penna her hopes. "Marriage in Liverpool, the authorities will have to bring back Martin's castle from the Isle so that way his dad, his butler, and the monkey ninjas can live with us, the honeymoon will take place in Japan, Martin will become a famous archaeologist and I a freelance artist, we'll have three boys and three girls with the respective names of Martin Junior, Alexander, Tobias, Jade, Emerald, and Topaz, all these intellectual and talented babies will graduate from either Oxford or the University of Auradon and give birth to at least two twins each, and in seventy years from now, Martin and I will be living a happy retired life in my dad's grandparent's retirement home in the Gotham suburbs!"

Penna speechlessly blinked at Ruby while the latter put her sketchbook back in her backpack. "Oh...kay. I... think I'm going to go get my test back in Remedial Goodness class. See ya!" She instantly ran off, completely freaked out and unaware that Ruby was smirking as she watched the former run off.

"That's payback for putting me on the monster menu back in the Infinite Forest of Evil," she said.

"I can't believe it. You managed to freak her out with your dreams!" Ruby looked up and saw Martin hanging from the ceiling's support beams with his monkey feet. He jumped and landed right on his feet. "And I can't believe you never told me that you wanted to be a freelance artist and have six kids! Why not tell me you wanted this stuff?"

"I wasn't going to be a professional thief for the rest of my life," Ruby sighed. "Besides, I'm sick of moving around. I've moved from street to street when I used to be a thief in Gotham, I barely spent four months on the Isle in both my mom's shack and your dad's castle, I then lived in a cave, then a day or so in Tartarus, and now back in Gotham. For once, I want to have a normal life that involves me settling down!"

"Great Hanuman, I didn't know," Martin said quietly. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I didn't realize how much your...domestic hopes meant a lot to you."

"Yeah." She held his hand in hers. "A peaceful life, with no mercenary work, no issues between VKs and reformees issues, no annoying stalkers, and no more saving the world. Just...one normal life with you."

He gave her an understanding smile for a few minutes before holding out his arm. "Would you like me to escort you to Arts and Crafts, my dear future Mrs. Fiske?" he asked in a both gentlemanly and teasing way that made Ruby giggle and accept his offer.

"Certainly, my good fellow!" She imitated his British accent so well.

"You really are a copycat!" Martin said in bewilderment as they walked away. To the couple's unawareness, Corbeau Roth Logan's hooded figure stepped out of the shadows and grimaced at them before making his way to the Mystic Arts class. Just like Controlling & Understanding Magic, the Mystic Arts classroom was a class taught by Merlin for the magically gifted. However, Controlling & Understanding Magic was more of a beginner's class while the Mystic Arts was for more advanced students with magical powers that really went high-up in the mystic and psychic levels. Therefore, it wasn't a very occupied class. The only students with such high capacities who attended this class at Auradon Prep were Proserpine Pitit Anfèr, Hades' demigoddess daughter with a voodoo priestess, Artemis and his cousin Radiance, Dia Nathos, the daughter of the evil god Anathos, and Kaly Astéria, the daughter of Kalandre. And since St Luther was also studying with Auradon Prep during the Pride Games, the only reformees in the classroom were Corbeau and the Weird Cousins Angra Mainyu, Beilag McGick, and Ajax Mourner.

"Today's topic is the mental ways of divination," Merlin explained once everyone was seated on the yoga mats Merlin used as substitute for desks and chairs since meditation was necessary in the Mystic Arts. "Now, I know that some of you already know their own ways to predict or see things, such as being born with the gift or relying on objects like crystal balls and tea leaves, but for many mystic artists out there, the future can only be read if you open your mind to the universe. So, we're going to do a basic exercise." Merlin snapped his fingers and almost nauseated the female students with a tacky blue-and-golden yoga sports outfit. "Lotus pose, everyone."

They all imitated him.

"Now, close your eyes and clear your mind of anything unrelated to what you want to see in the future. Your free mind must be open for the universe to step in and show you what it sees. Inhale as you go."

Everyone took large inhales and proceeded to meditating. A knock was heard on the door. Merlin got up and answered it while his students continued to meditate. "Ah, the young king Ben and his precious belle Mal," he greeted the couple. "How can I help you?"

"Well, you see, Merlin..." Ben began.

" **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!** "

Blue light suddenly exploded from the room and into the outdoor sky.

"Code K! Code K!" Proserpine screamed loud enough for Charles and Finius to hear it from the radio studio and repeat the message through the speakers throughout the school. Soon, all the VKs went in a frenzy and ran outside. Wondering what the heck was going on, the Auradonian kids and reformees followed them.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dusk asked when she caught up with Haya and Macy.

"It's a Code K!" Macy explained as they ran outside and joined all the other students who gathered at the front of the building.

"What's a Code K?"

"That's a Code K!" Haya pointed at the beam of blue light that was exploding from the school's ceiling. In the center of the beam, Kaly Astéria was floating. Her blue and purple hair, which was held up in seven different types of ponytails, and the feathered skirt of her complex mandarin dress, were moving in ominous wave patterns while her blue eyes glowed with the same color as if Kaly were in the middle of a trance.

"It happens everytime she has a vision!" Jay said. By that time, Ben and Mal had joined them. "And when that happens, _nothing_ good happens!"

"Why, what were some of the things she predicted?" Dusk asked.

"Island earthquake, Penna unleashing plagues to force us to celebrate the 10th anniversary of villains being cooped on the Isle of the Lost, Maleficent choosing the wrong VKs to liberate the villains, and the hidden war that Penna tried to create." Haya listed. "OK, I don't know about the last one personally because it's just a Hun kid who told me about it, but the part of the plagues..." Haya grimaced. "I found locust in my bed the day after she gave the prophecy."

"So, you mean something bad will happen to Auradon again?" Audrey gasped.

Kaly made another exclamation noise as her head veil ripped itself away, revealing to everyone the facial feature she was hiding. One of the numerous characteristics she shared with her mother Kalandre.

Her prediction empowered third eye.

" _I see it!_ " Kaly exclaimed in her thick, Eastern European accent that almost sounded like a waterfall crashing into rocks in a sauna. " _I see the ship of terror rising from below! The passengers on it will strike their anger to those who have imprisoned them!_ "

Gasps and anxious murmurs were heard throughout the students as Kaly revealed more of her vision. " _I see an ancient poison to the universe making its return, consuming the darkest parts among us to rip us away from one another! I see the silhouettes of the two antiheroes who have betrayed their own friends for their own greedy reasons!_ " Students from St Luther whispered to one another in a mix of fear and disbelief. How is it possible that one of them would betray the other reformees?

" _I see the poison controlling the one with an unbreakable mark of villainy and turning him into his own heartless slave of darkness! AND I SEE THE DARK CHILD CLASHING AGAINST THE POISON FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD DESPITE HER ALREADY WEAKENED SOUL CAUSED BY THE CROWN!_ " The glowing suddenly stopped and Kaly lost her consciousness. Fortunately, Dia caught her before Kaly could crash onto the roof.

"Alright, people! Back to class!" Mr. Barkin barked to the crowd of agitated students. Smoke suddenly exploded and the Weird Cousins appeared. Due to the family history, Macy hid behind Haya.

"Great. If they start adding one of their rhyming mumbo jumbo, that means we're also screwed!" Othello muttered.

The three hippy-like cousins snapped their thin fingers in rhythm with unknown thunder booming as if the universe were with them.

" _Believe us double, or you will be in trouble!_ " Angra warned.

" _You must get it together_ ," Beilag joined in, " _if you want to make this the final adventure._ "

" _Kaly ain't giving you a head trip_." Ajax nodded. " _The new villain will take control of their warship! As they rise from Poseidon's deepest pool, they will turn even the bravest into a fool!_ "

" _Yo, a traitor already walks among us!_ " Angra warned again. " _Don't let the poison's slave control you like fungus!_ "

" _Should the poison control the Unbreakable Mark and put an end to the Dark Child, good will lose its spark and turn balance wild!_ " They all said in unison. They snapped one last time and vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving everyone baffled until Shari finally barked at them. "BACK TO CLASS UNLESS YOU WANT TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR SEMESTER DOING LAPS!"

This really convinced them enough to move it, much to Mr. Barkin's confusion.

 _Later, at lunchtime_

Everyone was still startled from the unexpected prediction that Kaly gave. At least, that was the reaction from Auradon Prep. For St Luther, well, the reaction was more hostile. A majority of them spoke nasty comments when they saw Kaly walking in the outdoor cafeteria with Dia.

"I bet she only said that to distract us from winning the Pride Games," Sparrowfire Grayson commented to a couple of his jock buddies, who nodded in agreement as Kaly lowered her head in shame and walked with Dia towards a table where Mal invited them to sit at.

"Ignore them, Kaly," Mal said sympathetically. "They don't know what it's like for you to, you know..."

" _I never asked to be as prophetic as my mother_." Kaly played a bit with her veil, making sure at the same time that she didn't expose her third eye again. " _But with my third eye... I can't help myself from seeing things only when things are about to turn for the worst_."

"So, we're really going to end up in another war?" Audrey looked afraid. "To think that the last time it happened, Auradon wasn't prepared for it."

" _Don't forget that the gods couldn't do anything themselves_." Dia sharpened her nails with a plastic knife that she turned into an actual metal knife. " _The bad gods were locked up in Tartarus, the good gods have decided to retire themselves from getting involved in mortal affairs, and minor ones like Kaly and I were unable to keep our marks from being extracted by a ray gun._ "

"Speaking of Tartarus, remind me again why they let you guys transfer from the underworld jail to the island jail?" Dusk asked. "Was it because you weren't evil enough or..."

Kaly and Dia whistled in unison a tune that sounded like the Gospel Truth. "Oh, don't tell me that you're sole reason was Hades' poker game!" Mal exclaimed.

" _Sorry_ ," Kaly confessed.

" _Caught red-handed_!" Dia exclaimed.

"I can't believe it!" Audrey slapped her forehead. "Your only reason for being here is because of a _poker_ game?"

" _Hello, try to be in our shoes!_ " Dia snapped as she ate her barbecued pork brisket. " _Flame Hairs makes every single local down there play poker to keep himself from being bored and he cheats at his own game! Breakfast through dinner! New Year's Day through Christmas! It's torment to everyone because they always lose at his game!"_

 _"We lost a nice guard to the poker game_ ," Kaly pouted. She made a cross sign on her chest. " _Rest in peace, Stanley_."

"Hey, Kaly!" Penna came walking towards the group. "I just came back from class and Minuit told me about your vision!"

" _Yeah, about that..._ " Kaly was about to raise a finger until Penna suddenly gave her a grateful hug that lasted only a few five minutes.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" Penna smiled with such excitement, it made the others wonder if they just got a switch with a fake Penna. " _Finally,_ after 116 years of misery, I'm getting my freedom back with a ticket from death!"

"WHAT?" All the mortals looked at Kaly and Dia for explanations.

" _About that_ ," Kaly gulped. " _When I said 'Dark Child' in my vision, I meant Penna. Along with 'Princess of Evil', 'Dark Child' was a term used to refer to her._ "  
"What?" Audrey got up and shook Penna by the shoulders. "Penna, did you hear that? You have a life-or-death sentence hanging over you and you're aiming for Death?"

"Yep!" Penna made Audrey stop shaking her. "Just think! No more traumatizing life among the living! No more people wanting to wish for my death! No more life attempts! No more worries! I'll finally be able to die and liberate myself from my ghastly life!" She bent on her knees and thanked the sky." Whoever is the one who will rip out my Kraken Needles and destroy my Horcruxes, I bless you for..."

Kaly got up and smacked Penna on the face, stunning everyone, especially the VKs, for they had never seen the normally shy and quiet Kaly go so angry that even her cyan eyes turned crimson.

" _What are you thinking?_ " Kaly demanded furiously. " _You're destined to have an ultimate battle that will determine the final future of Auradon, and the only thing that you want to think about is your possibility of dying!_ "

"I'm sorry, but exactly how long were you immortal to know that my life stank and I wish to get out of it?" Penna replied in a bitter tone.

" _And how long were_ _ **you**_ _alive to not see that wishing for death is blinding you of your chance of finally having a happy life with people who really care for you? Did you even think of how you dying on purpose would affect Minuit and Jessie? Feige and Dårlig? Your new friend, Prince Marius? They'll be crushed if they find out your choice!_ "

"They deserve better than being around me!" Penna shouted.

" _No!_ " Kaly made her final snap. " _Because of your selfish excuses, you are just going to ruin their lives since they rely so much on you!_ "

It happened all of a sudden. No one saw it coming: Penna grabbed Kaly by the neck and suddenly began to squeeze it with as much might as you could.

" _Let her go!_ " Dia exclaimed. She created a magical fireball out of her hands, but found herself being unable to move her entire body as a teal aura surrounded her. They all looked at Penna, who still continued to strangle Kaly, and her eyes looked unusually blank. Like someone had drained the life out of them.

"She's being brainwashed!" Othello ran to help a couple other students to pull Penna away from Kaly. "She had that look back in January."

"Penna, let Kaly go!" Mal begged, but Penna still didn't respond. Like a robot, she continued to strangle Kaly, who began to use the air in her body.

"USE X-SCISSORS!"

A purple and blue beam shaped like an X hit Penna right in the face, knocking her out and releasing both Dia and Kaly, who were being rushed at by Mal and Audrey.

"Make way, people!" Mr. Barkin forced the students to scoot to make way for the two principals, Artemis, Ben, and Prince Marius Bogfae himself. A creature flew in the air and landed on Marius' shoulder. It was approximately the size of a normal grey fox, but its ears were shaped like insect antennas, six identical legs grew on its sides like an insect, and its grey abdomen was marked with two yellow stripes and on black one at the center like those of a bee. Its blue emperor butterfly wings matched the color of its eyes.

"Woah, what kind of Pokemon is it?" Jack Rocket pulled out his phone and took a picture of the Pokemon. After some downloading, he got the results.

' _ **Insecteon, the Vertebrate Insect Pokemon, and an evolved form of Eevee. Insecteon can only be found living in parts of the Dark Forest in the Fae Realm. When a trainer catches it, it will become his faithful partner to the end**_.'

"My Insecteon sensed somebody being controlled by a form of psychic attack," Prince Marius said sternly while Fairy Godmother and Mr. Barkin went to check on Penna. The latter noticed something on her neck and pinched it off with his nails. He held it up for everyone to see it: a blue goop with fluorescent veins flowing in it. The blood cells in the veins looked a lot like a familiar eye symbol...

 _Seconds later, at the Fairy Godmother's office_

"I analyzed that goop you found on Penna's nape," X.E.N.I.A Vi Rus said. Penna had recovered from her unexplained 'situation' and was now waiting outside in the hallway while the adults and some others were talking about the 'goop'.

"And?" Fairy Godmother tapped her hands nervously on her desk.

"It's rather incomprehensible, but that goop actually had the DNA code of the Scyphozoa." X.E.N.I.A's direct answer made them gasp, except for those from St. Luther. Back when Auradon Prep had witness the events on the Isle of the Lost via a crystal ball, they had seen the quest that Ruby and her friends had taken in the Infinite Forest of Evil. Along the way, Ruby had been faced by the Scyphozoa, a rogue creature from X.E.N.I.A's father X.A.N.A who attacked Ruby and sucked her blood for no particular reason since its main function were to steal people's memories or turning them evil with a virus.

"But how did this DNA fragment of the Scyphozoa even get to Auradon?" Mal asked. "Wasn't the Scyphozoa, you know, killed when Nightmare Moon nuked the Infinite Forest of Evil?"

"Your mother burned down an entire forest?" Marius asked Artemis in complete horror at the thought of nature exploding.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Artemis grimaced. The last thing he needed was another reminder of his cold mother sacrificing her life to save his.

"No." X.E.N.I.A shook her head at Mal's question. "The Scyphozoa is a unique creation of my father. Unlike the other monsters, it cannot be killed permanently or remodeled. The only damage you can really do is cut its tentacles or overload it with digital data, which will force it to retreat and heal itself. But it's unkillable. What really disturbs me though is what its DNA fragment is doing here in Auradon and why it affected Penna of all the desirable victims."

Principal Melchior raised a finger. "If I may suggest, King Ben, does it seem like maybe Miss De Mort is not _immune_ to technology related powers?" He looked at X.E.N.I.A. "Perhaps somebody tried to control from within with available resources?"

"I'm sorry, but either I'm deaf or is he suggesting that I did this to Penna?" X.E.N.I.A replied coldly. "Sure, my creator is an A.I who spent most of his years educating me into being as cold as him, but Penna hardly bullied me back on the Isle? She didn't bother A.I related VKs like Ben Tron and I because she hardly saw anything significant in . We were as useless as Muggles from her evil eyes' perspective." She wrinkled her pale nose. "Besides, such a petty act is beneath me."

"Brainwashing?" Mr. Barkin asked.

"No, throwing a fit towards a girl with a dormant evil side that most of us do _not_ wish to reactivate."

"Thank you for your pure honesty, X.E.N.I.A," Ben said gratefully. "I'll have some officials investigate and see if whether or not the Scyphozoa is out there in Auradon."

"That monster is a menace." X.E.N.I.A warned. "It can trap any victim in its tentacles and twist their neurons, so tell your men to take severe precautions."

Ben nodded and they were all dismissed. Marius was one of the first to get out of the office and instantly made his way to Penna, who was rubbing the back of her neck in discomfort. "Feeling better?" he asked.

She looked up at him and gave a small shrug. "I guess."

He sat down next to her. "They all know you weren't really trying to kill Kaly, so there's nothing to worry about."

Penna looked down at her shoes in remorse. "But the words I said... I can't tell anymore if my brainwashed self said it or if _I_ actually said them." Her eyes looked almost as shattered as glass as she continued. "Aside from making me kill my first crush, the worst thing that Voldemort ever did was using me like his own puppet host so that he could remain immortal. It was part of his latest plan: with the Kraken Acupuncture Needles dipped with his blood in my flesh and my soul ripped into Horcruxes, he could act as a parasite within me when he needed it, cloud my judgments, and make me do things that I thought were done on my own agreement until he could reincarnate himself in my body and use it to create a new line of prodigy that would suffer the same fate as me... And my actual self would have been erased."

Marius looked at her in shock. "So that's why Artemis said that your father tried to make off with Artemis' girlfriend... And why you have these on your back." He put a hand on her bareback. Electric tingles flew out of his warm touch and throughout the dark areas of Penna's cold skin-covered spine. She gently removed his hand from her back, not wanting to keep getting the fourteen reminders of her fourteen murders.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Penna decided to break it. "So, what were you doing here in the first place? Because I _highly_ doubt that..." She stopped herself when she saw Marius rubbing his nails together in a quite rapid manner. Being an old expert in sensing other people's anxiousness in order to exploit it, she dropped her jaw when she realized a partial reason of his being here. "I can't believe it!" She facepalmed herself. "You're mainly here because of me!"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing." Marius arched his eyebrow. "Parts of my reason are that, thanks to you clearing things up, I went to apologize to Ben for acting prejudiced during the first impression, so to combine both my job as the Fae Realm ambassador and my... hopes of hanging out with you more often, and after some quick inter-dimension calls to my parents, I'll be at Auradon Prep as an exchange student. You know, just until the end of the Pride Games."

Penna blinked in awe at him, trying to register the words he just told her. Him...combining royal duties with...spending time with her...

 _Attracted!_ Lonnie's voice shouted in her head. _Heads over heels! Infatuated! Smitten!_ _ **In love!**_

 _ **In love!**_

 _ **In love!**_

 _ **In love!**_

 _ **In love!**_

Penna shook her head back to reality. "Sorry about that," she apologized to Marius. "I'm hearing weird echoes in my head today."

"So I see." Personally, Marius would have preferred hearing something like hearing her echoing heartbeats, which would reflect how his own were behaving currently. As Penna looked away, distracted by her own emotions, she did not notice the quick eyes of the prince registering the chest that he had accidentally glimpsed before during their second encounter. Courtesy of her impossible natural beauty, even the modest gypsy shirt she was wearing couldn't hide those regal curves crowning her lavender bosom. Naturally, the prince was among the many men in the past who, despite the owner, wanted to make a grab for those two pillows covered in soft skin, dip their noses in that cleavage to extract its erotic perfume, and spread their tongues over those two pearls that held a tantalizing nectar.

And of course, since Prince Marius Bogfae was part-fairy and part-goblin, he knew clearly what his emotional feelings and lustful desires were as clear as the blue in Penna's eyes, because if there's one thing that humans in Auradon keep forgetting, it's that the Fae are also known for twisting things in order to get what they wanted, whether it was good or wrong.

Right now, while he hid it so well beneath that exoskeleton of his, the prince wanted very much to have Penna De Mort as his own. As friend, as a lover, and eventually, as a queen and wife.

 _After classes, in the game room_

"That's it!" Martin exclaimed once he burst the door open and got the attention of the few people in the game room. "It's the end of the world!"

His friends looked in confusion at him and stopped watching the chess game between Ben and Marius, with the latter getting quite a lead.

"Martin, what happened?" Ruby looked up from the UNHOLY GAZETTE edition she was reading. "Don't tell me it's Ronilda again..."

"What kind of name is 'Ronilda'?" Marius looked in confusion at Penna, who was sitting next to him as she watched him play.

"The name of his ex." She shrugged.

"Eesh." He gave a sympathetic look at Martin. "An annoying ex? I feel you. My mother has an ex who still can't get a clue that if my mother's with a goblin she likes, it means that the first guy is a loser."

"I wish it was an ex problem!" Martin groaned. "But it's worse!"

"Did Amelia start crushing on you again?" Penna asked.

"Hell no!"

"Did Oxford decide at the last minute to revoke your application?" Dusk suggested.

"That would be one of my worst nightmares."

"Did your old man tell you to marry your girlfriend?" Everyone stared at Junk for his weird comment. Hardly to anyone's surprise, Kit groaned in frustration. "What?" Junk asked. "Griselda does it all the time to His Highness."

" _Junk..._ " Marius warned angrily and nearly smashed the bishop piece in his piece.

"Here, allow me." Kit took one of Ben's pawns and threw it at Junk's forehead. All the present VKs chuckled at the sight of Junk getting punished by his twin sister. Thanks to Kit's act, Marius found an available spot on the chessboard to put his bishop piece. "Yes! Checkmate!"

"As much as my father kept telling me so ever since Ruby and I first met, that's not the problem!" Martin exclaimed once more. "There's another one of those Pokemon competitions coming up, the Pride Pokemon Contests, and while it's an optional deal, Fairy Godmother is making me participate!"

"What's the difference between the Showcases and Contests?" Kit asked while Ben, tired of losing, put the chess game away.

"Showcases are more of a girls-only pageant while Contests are coed and are a way to show off your Pokemon's moves in battle," Dusk explained. "The names of the competitors in contests are called 'Coordinators' and earn points based on how well they show off their Pokemon when they have to compete against other Coordinators. Whoever wins the final round wins the title of Top Coordinator and the chance to use the prize money and reputation for any social events or non-profit organizations."

"Judging by your knowledge, I'm assuming you're planning to participate," Marius guessed.

"Her dad was Top Coordinator." They all yelped when they saw Disco Jam popping out of Dusk's hair and turning into human size.

"Dude, warn us occasionally when you're about to pop out! Geez!" Gilliard muttered.

"Wait, Dusk, your dad was Top Coordinator?" Penna asked.

Dusk nodded proudly. She pulled out a picture from her biker's jacket and showed it to everyone. It was a picture of her, being somewhere around eight, being held up Sunset Shimmer's warm arms while a human Caucasian man with dark brown hair, a casual attire, and cyan eyes smiled at his wife and daughter. "My dad traveled throughout the world when he was younger and participated in many regular Pokemon Contests. After winning three times in a row, he used his rewards to build better homes for the poor, support Greenpeace, and create water filters in countries lacking water." She sighed as she put the picture back in her pocket. "I hope to do things similar to him once I participate in the Pokemon Contests and become Top Coordinator. One of the first things in my list is to definitely help improve the vegetation in the Infinite Forest of Evil. That way, the villains currently living there will have more trees to create healthier, cleaner oxygen and more fields to grow crops for feeding all those hungry mouths..."

"Great Lord, one Ben is enough!" Gilliard groaned, making the others laugh while Dusk and Ben pouted.

"Wait, what's so horrible about Pokemon Contests that make you dread them?" Marius asked Martin.

"Besides, it would be a good chance for you to finally gain a medal," Ruby closed her newspaper and glared at Penna. "Since somebody ran away like a chicken back at the decathlon, nobody won."

"Ruby, just look like at me for a moment. Do I look like I'm half-monkey?"

"You _are_ half-monkey."

"Do I look like somebody born to a power-hungry, aristocratic megalomaniac who's into Monkey Kung Fu?"

"Yes."

"Do I look someone who's been busting his superior in order to get that so desired college application?"

"Yes."

"So, I'll ask this calmly." Martin exploded like a volcano and nearly broke the windows in the game room. " **DO I LOOK LIKE A CIRCUS MONKEY PERFORMER?** "

Ruby arched an eyebrow at him. "Seriously? Those contests aren't macho enough for you? Is that what the problem is?"

"This guys knows more than ten languages, dead and current, can literally walk on his knuckles, brought all the dim-witted jocks and nerdy intellects to shame back in Dragon Hall, is completely clueless that 98.8% of his body stirs the envy of guys and the admiration of the ladies, can meditate in the middle of a street full of traffic, really knows how to throw shades at you, and humiliated Gaston by muzzling the guy's big mouth and playing rodeo with him on a pile of coal," Gilliard said. "Explain to me, Ruby, where you see 'coordinator' in his resume?"

"You did rodeo on the father on one of the tourney jocks?" Marius high-fived Martin, who smirked a bit at the memory of making his first impression on the vain hunter. "Classic! Why didn't I think of doing that to my mother's ex?"

"What's the worst you did?" Martin asked. He got his answer when Marius pulled out a container full of green liquid and one soaking green eyeball. "All the girls except Penna, who grinned in amusement, screamed at the sight of it.

"Whacked him straight on the face and poked his eye out!" The prince snickered. "Add it to the fact that my parents literally ripped off his wings and hair, he lost his blonde Elvis appeal and now looks like a naked egg!"

"I can imagine since I hate Elvis." Dusk gasped in shock at the comment since she happened to be a fan of Elvis Presley. "Sadly, just poking out an eyeball is miniscule effort! _I_ happen to have caused a man to lose his arm in the past!"

"Gilliard, is it just me or...is my boyfriend actually _bragging?"_ Ruby whispered to Gilliard, who looked as confused as her. Meanwhile, Kit and Junk gave each other amused glances, as if they knew what was going to happen.

"I'm sure you could rip off a man's arm." Marius feigned to check out his nails. "Sadly...I'm starting to think that you don't have the guts to actually do such an artistic form of art."

Martin's eyes widened like balloons on the verge of explosions. " _Excuse me_?" He demanded.

"I mean, you are a man of sophistication and brute force mixed up together into one perfect dish, and I find it admiring, but you're too chicken to actually do something like a Pokemon Contest, so how do you expect me to take your word seriously." Marius petted Martin's shoulder while the latter looked like he was about to explode. "Oh well...I guess you'd better run off to your afternoon tea while I actually go ask Fairy Godmother if even exchange students like me can take part of the Pride Pokemon Contests and me a, what's the word, _macho_." The prince's comment made Ruby, Gilliard, Penna, Ben, and Dusk hold back a few giggling snorts as badly as they could until a ticked Martin grabbed Marius by the collar of the tunic and pulled him for a face-to-face, shocking the others.

" _You_ and me, outside, in the tourney fence, for a tag battle _right now_ and we'll see who's a Fancy Pants!" he snarled.

Marius grinned. "Finally! You're getting motivated! I accept your challenge!"

"Wait, what are you guys betting on?" Penna asked out of excited curiosity. "Unless the loser has to do something horribly murderous, the battle is completely pointless." She leaned and whispered to Marius. "Make him pay _big_ time!"

"Charming to see that you still retain your sadistic side, De Mort," Martin said coldly.

"Nah, it's just on you personally. I'm sure you understand," she shrugged back at him, making him gasp in shock.

"I'd willingly make your beau pick every single pinch of my loose hair from my dirty laundry and put them in a pickle jar!" He lifted a finger.

"How about I shave your hairy hands and feet for a change?" Marius joked, making the former actually cringe and hide his hairy monkey hands and feet as far away from Marius as possible.

"No, that would be way too easy." Kit got up. "I have a much better idea for what the loser has to do. And it's _really_ ugly."

 _Minutes later, on the tourney field_

They had gone to the tourney field to see the tag battle between Martin and Marius. Some passing students and faculty also decided to watch the prince of the Fae Realm face off with the son of Monkey Fist in a competition they knew would be fierce.

"Ooh, this is gonna be _good_." Ronilda rubbed her hands in excitement from the bleachers while Charles Frollo spoke from his megaphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies, normal and weird people," Charles said, "we welcome you to an actual Pokemon tag battle between Martin Montgomery Fiske and Prince Marius Bogfae, our new exchange student at Auradon Prep! Each trainer can use two Pokemon and the battle will end when a trainer's Pokemon can no longer fight! No substitutions allowed! Also, whoever loses the challenge will have to face this!" He snapped his fingers and Kit came next to him with some sort of weird green plastic box. Quickly, Charles put on a gas mask and opened the lid, and soon enough, everyone in the field and bleachers were gagging from the invisible odor.

"What is this?" Martin tried not to vomit. "It is the most revolting thing in my life!"

"Oy, it actually makes Gilliard here smell better with all his scaly skin and muck!" Buffy Killigan pinched her nose in disgust while elsewhere, Haya Yu ran towards the nearest tree and threw up. A passing pigeon flew by and instantly fell unconscious on a bench.

"This is merely a combination of two toad-skin shirts from Kit's brother Junk, who hasn't washed them in six months." The crowd made moans of disgust. "Also, we have seventeen different socks from St Luther's Grinchelda May Whovier and Expertina Ohana. This small horror of stench is just a mere sample of the real deal!" Charles put the lid back in place.

"What's the real deal?" Marius shivered.

"We put away the washing machines and filled the laundry room with a ten foot high, eight feet long pile of the unwashed laundry of my brother, Grinchelda, and Expertina." Kit sneered. "Whoever loses has to wash that entire pile _with his bare hands_!" The crowd gasped in horror while the two competitors nearly lost their stomachs at the idea of cleaning the monstrosity behind that mere beast they just smelled.

"There's no way I'm the cleaning monkey of those dirty freaks!" Martin pulled out two Pokeballs. "Burn up the competition!" The balls bursted open, creating a shower of fiery sparks colored in purple and red as Martin's two chosen Pokemon came out.

"Martin Fiske is already burned up!" Charles shouted. "He has just summoned a Chandelure and an Infernape!"

"Wow, Martin's got two Fire-types!" Mal said in awe.

"Yeah, I'm familiar with them." Ruby, who was sitting with Mal and Penna, shrugged. "I've seen Martin train a lot with Infernape for obvious reasons and Chandelure, well..."

"Not that much?" Penna guessed.

"Let's just say that I mostly see Chandelure giving more atmosphere when I have dinner with Martin."

"Unleash your strange magic!" Marius pulled out two Pokeballs with designs of a Night Violet on each of them. The balls bursted open and sparkling purple petals exploded into glitter as Insecteon made its appearance again, only this time it was accompanied by a totally different Pokemon. It was a three-foot tall Pokemon with an upper body shaped like a green flower stem, humanoid arms with hands shaped like leaves, a head as round and clear as a purple marble, and the lower body shaped like a ruffled skirt made out of purple petals. It's yellow eyes glared out firmly.

"It's Niviol!" Jane gasped.

"Niviol?" Jack Rocket checked for the answer on this Pokemon like he did with Insecteon.

 _ **'Niviol, the Night Violet Pokemon. Fae Realm legends claim that Niviol was once a Night Violet turned upside down, which is why the movement of its petal-like tentacles look like a Night Violet blooming at the touch of soulmates.**_ '

"But why Insecteon and Niviol?" Carlos asked in confusion and got similar glances from his friends. "Martin's Pokemon are both fire-types, so why did Marius take a bug-type and a grass-type like Insecteon and Niviol?"

"Don't be so sure, Carlos," Jane said cautiously. "Martin may have the type advantage, but he's dealing with a trainer from the Fae Realm. The Pokemon there are completely than here."

"Let the battle begin!" Charles blew a small horn like the ones they used in tourney games, making the crowd in the bleachers go wild.

"Chandelure, attack with Flame Body! Infernape, use Blaze!" Martin ordered his Pokemon, who didn't blink and ran straight at Marius' Pokemon while their bodies burned with raging purple and red flames respectively. Everyone assumed that Chandelure and Infernape would instantly burn Insecteon and Niviol, who just stood there doing nothing.

Well, that was before Insecteon and Niviol jumped into the air, dodging the fiery attack and flying in the air. "Storm Water and Oberon Seeds!" The prince snapped his fingers. Insecteon widened its mouth and spat out a jet of water that covered the field with a small storm of rain that blew in all four directions and Niviol shook its petal-like tentacles, creating a shower of brown seeds that turned into growing roots once it touched the rain. Infernape and Chandelure found themselves trapped within the coils of the roots.

"Amazing! Despite the type disadvantage, Insecteon and Niviol have trapped Chandelure and Infernape in a cage of roots!" Charles turned to Kit. "By the way, what exactly are these moves that Prince Marius' Pokemon have just used?"

"Well, Storm Water is a Water-Type move that makes the target confused from the watery winds and Oberon Seeds is a move that's almost like the one you call Leech Seed but is _very_ effective if used with a move like Storm Water."

"Smart move," Jane commented. "Martin may have the type advantage, but the prince is twisting the advantage. With the combination of Storm Water and Oberon Seeds, Insecteon and Niviol are weakening Infernape and Chandelure."

"Let's put an end to this." Marius snapped his fingers. "Niviol, use Lunar Razor!" Niviol obeyed and began to spin itself in the air. Its petal-like tentacles glowed in bright purple lights before shooting moon-shaped disks at the trapped Chandelure and Infernape. Fortunately, Martin caught up.

"Infernape, Iron Tail!"

Infernape got the message and turned its tail into a blade of steel that slashed through the roots and freed itself and Chandelure. The latter and Infernape instantly dodge before Lunar Razor could reach them and burn a good portion of the tourney field.

"Did you really think I wasn't thinking about the odds of your Niviol being also a Fairy-type, old chap from the _Fae Realm_?" Martin chuckled.

"Ooh, burn!" Jay said in encouragement.

"Chandelure, Body Slam on Insecteon!" Chandelure began to fly at high speed towards Insecteon, who waited patiently until it got a nod from its master. It flew straight into the air, dodging the Body Slam of Chandelure.

"Insecteon, use Titania Voice!"

Insecteon opened its mouth and a series of rainbow vocal waves made their way towards Infernape, who look around to figure out a solution until it was too late for it to escape the vocal waves. Sooner than later, the fire-type Pokemon was now in a state of entranced affection.

"Infernape!" Martin was horrified of the state of Infernape.

"What on earth is Titania Voice?" Mal asked Jane.

"It has the same principles of the Attract Move, but it involves using mystical siren-like notes that hypnotize the victim in a state of love," Jane explained. "Since fairies are known for using their words to charm others, Titania Voice charms Pokemon just like a fairy-type version of Attract."

"Now, use X-Scissors and Lunar Razor!"

Insecteon and Niviol flew up in different directions before charging all at once with their attacks aimed at Infernape, who suffered a great deal of damage until finally losing all its strengths and collapsing on the field, much to its master's shock.

"Infernape is unable to battle! Insecteon and Niviol win!" Charles declared through his megaphone while Martin summoned Infernape back in its Pokeball and wishing it to get a good rest.

"I won't lie, Fancy Pants, you trained them well," Marius commented. "But I have the advantage for possessing unfamiliar Pokemon." He cracked his knuckles. "Time to end this. Use X-Scissors and Lunar Razor again!"

They charged again. Martin looked like he was meditating until he finally ordered Chandelure. "Use Ancient Power!"

Chandelure span its body like a twister and sent a series of white balls of light, damaging the attacks of Insecteon and Niviol. "Now use Trick Room!" Chandelure rose in the air and trapped itself and its adversaries in a chessboard-patterned box.

Ruby facepalmed herself. "He's dealing with an Insect-type Pokemon like Insecteon and he's using a Psychic move like Trick Room..."

Marius rolled his eyes. "I know one Fancy Pants who'll be washing Junk's laundry. Insecteon, be merciful and hit Chandelure with X-Scissors."

Insecteon obeyed and began to charge at Chandelure, but it suddenly began to slow down and began to fly at the speed of a snail, shocking everyone, especially Marius. "Insecteon!"

Martin chuckled. "Didn't see that coming, did you? Flash Fire, now!"

Chandelure glowed and threw a large blast of purple fire at Insecteon. The latter crashed into the walls of Trick Room and shattered the tiles into pieces. As the shatters dissolved and the dusty clouds disappeared, gasps were heard when they saw Insecteon lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Insecteon!" Marius exclaimed in horror. Niviol quickly flew towards Insecteon and picked it up in its small arms, carrying it back to their master.

"Insecteon is unable to battle! Chandelure wins and now each trainer is at his last Pokemon!" Charles declared.

"A smart trick," Penna said. "Trick Room is a disadvantage if your target is a Bug-type, but Chandelure is a Fire-type. It enhanced its attack against Insecteon to turn the tables and make Trick Room actually work on Insecteon." She looked at Marius as he summoned Insecteon back in its ball and Niviol went back into place.

"Oberon Seeds, now!"

"Use Flash Fire!"

Blast of seeds met blast of purple fire, which caused a shower of purple-colored popcorn. Some students actually tried eating the purple popcorn that landed on the bleachers and actually found them delicious. Even Augusta Gloop had to make a rush to bring back a bucket to aid her in catching more of the raining popcorn.

"Iron Tail!"

"Lunar Razor!"

Another clash of the titans led to Ronilda and Melgo pulling out a deck of cards and playing go-fish.

"Body Slam!"

"X-Scissors!"

Ruby began to doze off and inadvertently sleep-spray graffiti on Mal, who had to slap her on the hip to wake her up and gave her an unbelieving look when the two of them saw the cat graffiti that Ruby did.

"Oberon Seeds again!"

"Flash Fire, again!"

It was finally too much: Niviol and Chandelure had lost too much energy and began to fall unconscious on the field, shocking the trainers and relieving the crowd! They thought this bottle would never end! Kit brutally shook Charles, who had been asleep during the last five minutes of the battle.

"Niviol and Chandelure...are unable to battle. No one wins...or loses..." Charles yawned. "The trainers get to pick...who does the laundry for them instead!" His body finally ceded and he fell asleep on the ground. Gitane, Gabriel, and Avery Modo rushed to pick him up and carry him back to his room.

"So, you're not much of an extreme Fancy Pants," Marius admitted when they summoned their Pokemon back in their balls. "This battle was intense."

"OK, but who is the one who'll do the laundry? Because I am _not_ putting my hands in that nuclear bomb of stench!" Martin said.

Ruby and Penna glanced at each other and grinned.

 _Hours later, in the laundry room_

These women knew how to make men suffer just to please them.

Technically, neither Marius nor Martin lost the battle, but that still meant they both lost, which meant that they both had to wash that filthy laundry. Now the two boys were stuck in the laundry room, squeezing the cold water and detergent out of clothes into the bucket before tossing them at Expertina, Grinchelda, and Junk, who also got taught the harsh lesson of never cleaning their laundry.

"Squeeze, hang, and fold, kids!" Shari shouted from her megaphone as she stood by the front door with Ruby and Penna. "I knew a Gigantopithecus who could clean better than you five!"

"I'll never keep my laundry dirty, I promise!" Junk complained as he hung another sock.

"Just shut up and learn for once, alright!" Martin threw one of Junk's wet shirts at the former, hitting him straight on the face.

"Thank you!" Marius grumbled as he continued to press the dirty clothes in the bucket.

"And make sure this laundry is nice and folded before it gets dark out!" Shari barked before leaving. Ruby and Penna chuckled.

" _You_ are barbaric..." Martin told Ruby coldly. She giggled and walked towards him. Next thing they knew, she put her hand in the bucket and splashed water at him. Seeing his wet face made the others laugh.

"Sorry... _Wetty Monkey..._ " She joked at him. He rubbed his face with his hand, looking at Ruby with a blank face before finally grabbing hold of the bucket full of laundry water. Ruby's eyes widened and she tried to back away. "Oh no..."

"Time for a bath... _Pussy Wussy..._ " He used her tone as he rose the bucket in the air and tossed the water at Ruby. He snickered until Ruby spit some water that she got in her mouth on his face.

"Laundry fight!" Grinchelda grabbed a pair of socks and rolled them together before throwing them at Expertina like a snowball. Next thing you knew, it was mayhem in the laundry room. Fortunately, while they weren't looking, Penna and Marius snuck out.

"You guys were _hilarious_!" Penna laughed while Marius shook the water out of his wings. "You actually managed to bore the entire audience with your non-stop battling!"

"Yes, I'm making the personal note to never accept such battles against Fancy Pants." Marius shivered in disgust. "But still, that laundry... It was disgusting!"

"Personally, I was hoping you guys would throw up." Pena confessed as she continued to laugh.

"So, watching people get humiliated is funny to you?" He asked with a cold tone before smiling as well. "Glad to see that you aren't in your state of misery anymore."

Penna blushed. "Thanks."

"Dinner at the Sebastian Groove Bar?"

"Yes, but _please_ take a shower before you do. You stink of lavender-scented detergent and Junk's body odor!" She pinched her nose, making Marius groan in the air.


	20. Secrets That Aren't SoSecret

Chapter 20: Secrets That Aren't So...Secret

One of the ironies about Sebastian Groove Bar is that, for an Auradonian restaurant commemorating the world's most famous singing Jamaican crab, they had the audacity to serve cooked crab on the surprise specialty menu. Marius, who was brand new to the entire history of anthropomorphic people in Auradon, was stunned to find himself being served cooked crab during his dinner with Penna while this restaurant celebrated the singing crab by playing 'Under The Sea' karaoke.

"Cooked crab with a romaine salad, tonight's specialty," Crystal said as she placed the food on their table. "Hurray."

"Why do you keep working here if you hate being a waitress?" Penna frowned at Crystal. "I mean, why not work at the spa or something?"

"I would, honey," Crystal said drily as she put the drinks on the table, "but thanks to Jareth owning the Bog Of Eternal Stench, no spa in the area would want to hire me." Penna nodded, understanding what it's like to have paternal issues. Crystal made her way to attend other customers while Marius poked the crab facing him belly up with his fork. He looked uneasily at it.

"Is something wrong?" Penna asked. It's a good thing she didn't open up her crab just yet.

"Is...is this an invertebrate animal?" He asked in an unusual tone of uneasiness.

"Yes."

Marius put down his fork. "You don't eat crabs, do you?" Penna guessed.

"Crabs? Penna, I live in the Fae Realm!" Marius exclaimed in offense. "I have an exoskeleton! I fly with dragonflies! Throughout most of my childhood, I played with butterflies, visited beehives, and dug ant farms in the earth! Why would I want to eat invertebrates?"

"OK, I'm sorry!" Penna said instantly before calling back Crystal. "We made a mistake in the order. Could we order something else?"

"Gee, the chef busts himself to cook two crabs for you people and your boyfriend instantly complains!" Crystal took the crabs back. "How about you keep the romaine salad and I get you guys shrimp pasta instead?"  
"How about you watch your tone and I don't tell your father about fifth grade and the missing crystals." Penna returned the cold tone, which made Crystal suddenly flinch in fear, smile weakly, and rush as fast as she could back to the kitchen. The former gave a deep sigh as she sat back up straight in her chair and ended up meeting Marius' stunned eyes. "What?"

"You just sounded like my mom," he gasped in a mix of fascination and disturbed déjà vu. "Even after she was married, she still uses her tone of 'I will kill you' whenever someone ticks her."

"Did she ever do it to you?" Penna asked.

"Only after I really bugged her twice." He leaned a bit on his seat. "Lesson learned: _never_ joke about her old relationship with her ex-fiancé and _never_ laugh around her after a near-death experience."

"Her ex was _that_ horrible?" Penna drank from her glass after asking her question.

"He was a blonde Elvis-like fairy knight who kept twirling his hair, played Casanova, tricked most of the Fairy Kingdom into thinking he was the Prince Charming, and tried to use a love potion on my mother in order to become king because she broke up with him when she caught him cheating on their wedding day. What do you think?"

Penna grimaced in displeasure. "That reminds me too much of how I killed my first crush. Daddy says no to your crush and next thing you know, it's road to evil!"

"It kind of reminds me..." Marius rubbed his nails together, which was even stunning. Whenever he did it, they never got scratched or broken, as if they were made of pure metal. It almost reminded Penna of how back on the Isle, Dårlig had the habit of actually sharpening his cooking knives with his own nails while the nails still looked intact. "When we were on the way here, you said you used to fly. What made you stop?"

Penna tensed and felt two aching areas on her back. The areas of where her two demon wings used to stick out and emerge from her back like a dark cape of doom, which had made her even more terrifying to others during her evil career days. Oddly, getting wings when she turned evil was the one thing she didn't hate very much about turning from the weak Penelope into the cold-hearted Penna.

"Let's just say they've been put aside on a bus," Penna chuckled nervously as she picked some of her salad's green leaves with her fork. It didn't take long for Marius' skeptical glare to make her finally give in. "OK, fine! My wings only sprung out of me after I got my first rage of evil and they disappeared for no reason after the entire Voldemort possessing me and Lonnie saved me and the entire world! Happy?"

"Well at least it was a normal thing," Marius said. "In real life, nature demons like Svjetla are known to get their wings only when they get a highly emotional and traumatic experience." He looked at her with genuine pity. "Mandire's death must have been that bad enough for you to unleash your wings, but the part of losing your wings...Maybe you're beginning to..." He stopped in his sentence.

"I'm beginning to what?" Penna gulped.

"You're beginning to move on," Marius said.

Penna blinked. _Moving on?_ Her mind was having a hard time to register those two little words as if they had one thousand cloned duplicates in a jigsaw puzzle that she was trying to complete. Is it really possible that she was... _moving on_?

"You think that's why I lost my wings?" Penna asked. "Because I'm moving on?"

"Look at it this way," Marius explained to her. "Despite all those years of cruel tortures, you managed to resist your father's attempts of corrupting you until he found the perfect way to make you snap." He snapped his fingers. "Mandire meant a lot to you, and you most likely meant a lot to him, but your father used it against you. You felt like you had no chances no matter what you tried once he took Mandire away from you and _that's_ when you turned into the evil person you mostly know yourself as. But when you lost your wings after your friend saved you from your father's possession, it must have been a sign that you were beginning to lose your chains. These wings symbolized your slavery to him, but without them," he held her right hand in his left one warmly, "you're free."

Penna smiled when she understood the words. Freedom from Voldemort, at last!

Crystal came over with the shrimp pasta bowls and chuckled when she saw them holding hands. "Seriously, I see you guys dining here and at school more often and you still won't kiss?" She joked. "Man, what do I have to do to convince you people?"

Marius and Penna blushed. They pulled their hands away, cleared their throats, and glared at Crystal to shut up and serve. She merely shrugged and put the bowls down, leaving them to finish their dinner calmly.

 _At 11pm, back in Auradon Prep_

Tara Sam Scam was walking down the corridor, texting to her boyfriend Samuel Simpson while on her way to Mal's dorm for a sleepover. By now, everyone was either in their dorms or houses, sleeping peacefully, or hanging out in town. As for the Troll teens, they were out at the beach throwing a party. Even from where she was standing and at the current time, Tara Sam swore that she could hear the vibrant music from miles away.

She put her phone back in her pocket after the last text and made her way to the dorm area, passing the office of the Fairy Godmother along the way, not realizing that she was in the middle of a conversation until the words of a particular person caught her attention.

"Well, old friend, the plan to have the prince host the Easter Festival turned the tables to our advantage," Tara Sam heard the Sugar Plum Fairy said. Now (and this is something you normally shouldn't do), it is very impolite to eavesdrop on others unless of course its interesting information and your father was a sneaky criminal like Tim Scam. Since the girls' bathroom was right next to the office, Tara Sam silently snuck her way there, shut herself in a cabinet, and pulled out her precious XSFD-phone. Once she made sure she got the right frequency and her headphones on, she recorded the conversation that she was hearing.

" _It was sweet but unexpected,_ " Fairy Godmother said happily. " _I mean, who would have thought that Prince Marius, our future king, has met the maiden he is meant to marry. I feel so happy for Penna..._ "

" _And the prince is clearly in love with her_ ," sugar Plum agreed. " _Bringing her back with us to the Fae Realm and making Titania and Oberon happy will be a peace of cake!_ "

Tara Sam's eyes widened.

" _Now let's not rush over things, Sugar Plum!_ " Fairy Godmother said patiently. " _Don't forget that Penna is still trying to recover from her broken state. Pushing her into marrying the prince will not improve the positive emotions she's beginning to grow for him and we don't want to make her feel like she's being used. And let's not forget our current rulers, the king and the queen._ "

" _You're right. I already had to trick them into thinking their son was here on an ambassador trip while I'm actually trying to ensure the fulfillment of the prince's divine ancestors' agreement with the one of Penelope. We need to make them A, think that the new romance is natural, and B, that Penelope is a girl fitting for the title as Queen of the Fae Realm. I might have an idea, but I will need your formula #9..._ "

" _Sugar Plum, no! That kind of potion does not work on Penna! And you know I don't like using that kind of potion on couples!"_

 _"Then what do you suggest to make sure that Titania and Oberon's wrath doesn't fall upon all of us_?" Sugar Plum's question left Fairy Godmother silent, making Tara Sam feel guilty for her headmistress, and heard some sort of noise that sounded like glitter. " _Now this potion won't be a_ _ **love**_ _potion, but it will just drive enough desire in Penelope to return the prince's obvious desire to kiss her. A first kiss is the validation that Titania and Oberon need. As for the king and queen, see if you can arrange King Ben to have them come over during the last Pride Games event and the closing ceremony right at coincidental moments where Penelope shows her good skills."_

That was enough for Tara Sam. She hit the STOP button of her device and made her way out, but instead of making her way to the sleepover, she made her way to a certain studio.

 _The next day, at breakfast_

When Penna and Marius went to the cafeteria for breakfast, they saw Martin banging his head nonstop on a table in an attempt to give himself a permanent concussion while Ruby, Mal, and Ben couldn't stop themselves from giggling.

"Hey, did we miss something?" Penna asked.

"Rebecca ratted off to my father the entire thing that happened yesterday," Martin muttered bitterly. He glared at Ruby, whom he had called by her first name to point out his frustration towards her. "And I got a package overnight."

"Was it a monkey ninja?" Penna asked, making Ruby giggle even harder as the latter answered. "Nope."

"Oh, hang on!" They looked up and saw Ronilda, Stan Barkin, Melgo, and Grinchelda passing by. "It's red, long, with some hints of black, and a note that said 'Remember the Lemurs' in red ink."

Martin grimaced even more.

"Yeah! How did you know?" Ruby grinned.

"Grinchelda ran into a picture of it while she was destroying my computer," Melgo said flatly, making the others look blankly at her. "Don't you dare ask."

"How did you find Fancy Pants' horror in that metal beast of yours?" Marius, since the Fae Realm wasn't as technology oriented as Auradon, asked.

"It's on my old man's online blog, _High School Horrors_ ," Stan said.

"Your dad made an entire blog of how much his life as a high school student stunk?" Mal raised an eyebrow.

"Close. It was about the horrors of being a teacher in Middleton High when my parents were around." Ronilda sneered. " _Any_ Internet junk badmouthing my parents is music to my ears!"

"Gee, why not run them over with a car since you hate them so much and get it over with?" Martin grumbled. His comment shocked the others.

"Martin!" Ben said.

"What?" Martin said in defense as he slightly got up on his chair. "Your girlfriend turned her mom in a one-inch lizard and Penna did not hesitate to try killing her father unsuccessfully in the past. I see no reason why the sequel of the buffoon wouldn't want them out of her life."

"Because the _sequel of the buffoon_ still has a sense of decency," Ronilda said coldly. "And at least _she_ didn't have problems with dating the son of her father's worst enemy!"

That was the final straw. Martin burst up from his chair and marched at the reformees. His eyes were burning with tired frustration that just got too pushed on and his body unleashed an aura of red Mystical Monkey Power as he faced Ronilda with brutal honesty. "At least I don't act like a spoiled brat complaining all the time about how my incredibly rich parents have no time around me and only send me cars than holiday visits! Consider yourself even lucky that you didn't have one of them that hated you to the point of willingly handing you over to the authorities until you had no choice but to kill her!" He waved his hand all over the cafeteria, most notably at the VKs. "You get to see just a glimpse of your parents' faces once in a while, but apparently you think it's more important than all the majority of VKs here who either never had caring parents or know that now, they might never see them again! For crying out loud, I might never see my family ever again! **So grow up a bit!** "

He stormed out of the cafeteria, even to the point of kicking the doors open with is feet, and rushed through the hallways so that he could make it back to his house. Oh, why did he even bother? Dragon Hall wasn't already easy back when he first started there, but Auradon Prep just seemed worst. He sighed depressively to himself. _I might as well start saying goodbye to my Oxford application..._

He accidentally bumped into Fairy Godmother while the latter was returning to her office. "Martin? Shouldn't you be starting to head to class?"

"I apologize, ma'am," he said politely, "but I think I might have to skip my classes today."

That was not a right thing to say. One of the numerous things that made Fairy Godmother an exceptional headmistress was that she knew her students' habits from A to Z, and Martin saying that he might need to skip classes was new to her. The boy had always been an exceptional student, striving more than the others. During teacher conferences, not a single one said the worst about him and he never got a grade below A. He even killed himself for weeks until he got the acceptance for Oxford, but it did seem like lately, if you exclude the Tiger Breath incident, Martin was being less like himself than usual.

She motioned him to follow her in her office. Feeling like he had no choice, he silently followed her in and sat down on one of the baby blue chairs that stood in front of her desk. Fairy Godmother then took the liberty of heating up some Earl Grey tea and handing a teacup full of it to Martin, cheering him up with the scent of his most favorite tea.

"You've been going through lots of rough states lately, haven't you, Martin?" Fairy Godmother asked quietly as she sat by her desk.

"My snappy attitude has been selling me out, hasn't it?" Martin looked up grimly from his cup of tea.

"Martin, you aren't the first student transferred from the Isle that I've talked to in my office. Your classmates have similar issues with you concerning their adaptation. You are a very active, but your adaptation level is a bit, how shall I say it? Below average."

"Is that bad?" Martin felt his hands tightening their hold on the teacup.

"Not necessarily, but it means that you need more time to develop." She brought her chair closer to her desk so that she could face Martin a bit more. "You know, I did have a few words with your father back in January when the villains had to agree that maybe the Isle was no longer safe for their high-school children. Lord Fiske said you were homeschooled. Am I correct?"

Martin nodded glumly. Come to think of it, Lord Monkey Fist had done a similar thing to Martin that Voldemort did to Penna: confining them within the walls of their home. But while Voldemort did it out of cruelty, Monkey Fist did it out of a paranoid instinct of overprotection. Until Martin ran away when he was twelve and had the incident with his mother, he had lived a grand majority of his life within the walls of his castle, raised by his father and Bates, trained with the monkey ninjas...

Naturally, Martin had no problem having his father teach him how to read and write at the age of three, solve math equations and speak more than one language at the age of six until Martin was well-educated to read all by himself all the manuscripts that Monkey Fist discussing the topic of Mystical Monkey Power at the age of ten, but being homeschooled left you with the want for friends other than family, which is why he craved for outside relationships. Unfortunately, most of his outside relationships involved murdering his mother, getting fooled into an inconvenient romance, make enemies that were after your hide, and getting arrested by the authorities.

Initially, when they began to settle in the Isle of the Lost, Monkey Fist was tempted to put his son under homeschooling again until Duff Killigan wisely said that not being around people of his age would not help Martin realize how important it was to grow fear, respect, or hatred from others. At least Martin made friends with VKs that he could relate to, manage to become the most feared male VK at Dragon Hall (although his evil status was no match to Penna's back then), and ended up meeting Ruby...

Martin nodded. "I guess so. Maybe..." He sighed. "Maybe I'm just not ready to be good."

Fairy Godmother got up from her desk and went to give a comforting hand on his shoulder. "These things take time, Martin. I'm sure that you'll eventually catch up to your classmates."

Martin nodded glumly.

"I know that personally you don't find yourself to be artistically- oriented to be in one of the Pride Pokemon Contests, but you've been required to do it because we wanted to give you an encouraging push out of your limits. You can understand that, right?"

He nodded again. After giving her a small 'thank you' and getting her permission to exceptionally miss class, he walked out of the office. As he made his way through the hallway, he got grabbed by the arm and pulled into the door that led to the UNHOLY GAZETTE studio in the West Wing. Once he was released, he saw that he was pulled in by Tara Sam Scam and a redheaded boy in a green uniform. He didn't recognize the latter.

"What the hell?" He asked.

"Look, I know we don't meet eye-to-eye on a regular assistance, but I need your help," Tara Sam said while she pushed him up the small staircase that led to the empty studio. "I need your beatboxing."

Martin felt his skin paling and reducing temperature. "How did you know I..." He stammered.

"Tara bribed May Whovier with a bar of chocolate and May Whovier kind of blabbed out that she read a part of Stoppable's diary saying that she saw and heard you singing and beatboxing," the redheaded guy said.

Martin muttered between his teeth. _The female species and its needs to blab out everything in a notebook!_ "Why would you need my beatboxing and why would I help you?"

"Because A, someone who can beatbox Bach and Beethoven all mashed up has skilled, and B, if you help me out, I can hack into the computer documents where the U.N and the principals archive the names of who must compete in which event and I can have your name moved out of the list."

"Really?" Martin smiled in relief. "But, won't you get caught?"

"No, I have this guy." She warmly put her arm over the shoulders of the redheaded guy. "Fiske, this is Samuel Simpson, the son of Agent Sam from WHOOP, and my boyfriend."

"I've seen you before at the public library," Samuel said as they shook hands. "I work there for a part-time job. Aside from that, since my mother is both a WHOOP agent and a guard at a prison, I have access to multiple databases." He sat on the desk with the main computer that Charles Frollo generally used to edit his UNHOLY GAZETTE editions before printing them on paper or posting them online. His fingers instantly began to tap rapidly on the keys and he opened up a government page. After some searching, he found the list of the students chosen to be in the Pride Pokemon Contests. "OK, your name is the thirteenth one mentioned in the list. A few good adjustments to the document and..." A ding noise was heard and the document changed. "Now the document will look like it had only been modified three days ago and your name was replaced with the one of Hermia Bartok."

Martin clapped his hands together in excitement. Yes! He wouldn't have to do that stupid event!

"So, what was that beatboxing you needed?" He asked with a smug.

 _Later on, at lunchtime_

" _Good afternoon, Auradon Prep and our visitors!"_ Charles Frollo said from the speakers while everyone was eating lunch in the cafeteria. " _It's a brand new day. Coming right up will be a quick resume of the next Pride Game events until the end comes, but first, a little song from our favorite pop singer Melody that I recorded online!_ "

The sound of a beeping button was heard, but instead of the usual pop music they kept hearing in Melody's music, they got a tune that sounded like beatboxing.

"Wow," Dusk said. "That is some _very good_ beatboxing!"

Digital voices came along with the beatboxing, making it sound like a wicked computerized rapping song. But with the way the voices were so digital, it was hard to determine who was the singer.

 _Sweet, yo, but unexpected._

 _Don't wanna make her feel like she's being used._

 _Yo, turn the tables, old friend._

 _I met the maiden._

 _Sugar, no._

 _Make sure that wrath doesn't fall upon us._

 _I'm actually trying to ensure._

 _I feel so happy for pee._

 _Let's potion her to marry._

 _Had to trick the ambassador._

 _That validation does work._

Everyone was silent in the cafeteria, stunned by the small rapping song they heard. Even Haya Yu herself was stiff enough to let her scoop of mashed potatoes fall out of her spoon and back on her plate. "Wow," Xaos said. "That was some...unexpected piece of music."

"The beatboxing was awesome!" Disco Jam said in excitement before getting back in a serious tone. "I'm not so sure about the lyrics though..."

" _SOMEONE HACKED INTO MY STUDIO'S COMPUTER!_ " Charles screamed from the speakers, making a scratching sound that made everyone cover their ears.

"Gabriel, get the fireman department's phone number ready," Ben sighed. "In case he burns the staircase again."

"He _burned_ a staircase?" Dusk asked in shock.

"February 14th," Gitane said in lament. "A student, I won't say who, broke into his studio and hacked into Charles' studio computer in order to post a love declaration to his crush."

"Aw..."

"Problem is that Charles is A, gifted with fire power, B, gifted with dark gypsy magic, and C, **really** hates it when you tamper with his studio toys, so a few minutes after he found out that someone messed with his computer, he went in a wild rampage and burned the entire staircase on the West side of the school. Sure, we were able to fix it, but still..."

Dusk shivered at the idea of Charles burning a staircase in anger while Disco Jam, who was sitting on her shoulder, said: "That sounds like that one time when Grinchelda played a prank on Cassie Mushu by filling up her water bottler with spicy sauce. Minutes later, the gym was barbecued _à la dragon mode_!"

"Yeah, we never have any luck with our gym," Dusk sighed.

In the meantime, Fairy Godmother looked petrified after she heard the rap song playing from the speakers while she was reviewing a few papers in her office. The voices may have been digitalized, but there was doubt that the words were taken from her conversation with Sugar Plum. The words may have been twisted, but there was no doubt that whoever made the song knew about Sugar Plum and Fairy Godmother discussing the...thing with Penna and Marius.

Her cell phone beeped. She picked it up and found an anonymous text.

 **Let Bogfae and De Mort live their relation normally or this song will become a new hit in the Fae Realm.**

 _After classes, at Malevia Village_

"Classic!" Martin high-fived Tara Sam when passed by his house in Malevia Village while he was pulling out weeds. Samuel Simpson had gone back in town to work at the library. "I can't wait to tell my father that I won't be doing those stupid Pride Pokemon Contests! By the way, what were those lyric you used?"

"Oh, just something that will teach kids to not get involved in others' relationships." Tara Sam shrugged as she made her way. "Say hi to Ruby for me!"

"Sure thing!" He went back to removing the weeds and was close to done until he hit the last weed. This particular little fellow did not seem to want to get off as he kept pulling it by the stem. Martin's fingers were beginning to itch as he gripped on the stem even harder.

"Come one, just get out already!" He pulled as hard as he could until he finally managed to pull off the weed, inadvertently unleashing a familiar green gas that replaced the roots. Martin found himself coughing insanely, his vision blurred, and all of a sudden, he felt his memories rooted from hatred carving themselves in his brain as if they were part of a temple's murals, and Edina Lipsky, who just came in the area with her motorcycle, noticed that Martin's eyes were greener than usual as he hopped over his fence and marched like a robot towards the area were the St Luther dorms were locked. Edina then spotted the green smoke coming out of the area where the weed was pulled out.

"Dude!" Edina gasped. She hopped on her bike and insanely drove back to the main building. "Ben!"

 _Minutes later, inside the St Luther dorms_

Martin knocked on one of the doors and Maligna Trixie opened it. "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"How do you feel about ridiculing one of the cheerleaders in your squad and your worst rival at the same time?" He asked flatly, but clearly. Maligna blinked as she registered the words and made note that Martin's eyes did not have their usual shadowy grey color. Nevertheless, it did not displease her, the idea of pulling a prank on Dusk Shimmer and one of the other Loud Roadrunners cheerleaders.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

 _Meanwhile, at the tourney field_

"And then Martin just hopped off the fence like a robot!" Edina told Ben after she found him training with his team in the tourney field, forcing him to call a timeout in order to listen to her. "But the creepy thing? He had his grass smoking with green!"

"Green?" Ben gasped. He got out his phone and dialed in Mal's number. "Mal, get Artemis! Martin may have been affected by Tiger Breath again!"

 _Minutes later, in one of the St Luther dorms_

Maligna used her wand to unlock the door that led to the dorm shared by Melgo and Ronilda. It was very neat for a bunch of wild girls, but the neatness didn't concern the trespassers.

"It's hidden underneath the mattress of the bed near the closet." Maligna pointed her wand at one of the beds. Martin walked stiffly and silently and merely put one hand underneath the mattress to easily pull out a dark blue book with naked mole rat stickers covering the surface. He sneered coldly as he flipped through the pages and found one that particularly interested him. Without any hesitation, he ripped the page, stuffed it through the collar of his shirt, put the diary back in place.

"Thank you," he said stiffly. He made his way outside and Maligna left after him, making sure that she magically locked the door again. Martin made his way out to the west area of Auradon Prep, where the UNHOLY GAZETTE kept a certain donation bin. He then made his way to his house, where he found it quarantined and being inspected again. Then, unexpectedly, the word turned black.

"Martin!" Ruby and Ben rushed to help him get up. His eyes, his natural shadowy grey eyes, blinked themselves open. "W...What happened?" He looked around. "Why is my house being inspected again?"

"This is why." Artemis came over. His hands were holding a glass container full of a weed and Tiger Breath gas. The identification of the gas was easy, since Martin suddenly turned stoic and green-eyed until Artemis covered it with his sleeves, making Martin turn back to normal. "Someone created a weed with Tiger Breath for roots. However, it had a different reaction on you this time."

"It did?"

"You turned stoic and your eyes were green..." Ruby's eyes widened. "Martin...Didn't you tell me before that if a magic-bearing person were to use the gas on you, they could control you."

"I did." Then it hit him. "I must have been brainwashed. But, what did I do?"

"Yeah, I think we might have a reaction in exactly three seconds," Artemis said, and in precisely three seconds, a shrill scream was heard coming from the main building. "Called it."

They ran to the main building and saw that, since it was 4pm, it was time for the usual handouts of the printed newspaper versions of the UNHOLY GAZETTE. Charles and his group were handing out their editions and getting paid a dollar for each. Right now, it seemed like somebody found the hit article that got the position of the headlines, because everyone was particularly interested in reading the first article they saw on the front page. In fact, Ronilda's cheeks were flushing with anger as she saw the article.

"Frollo, why the hell is a page of my diary in your newspaper?" Ronilda shoved the newspaper at the son of Frollo's face.

"Hey, it was in the donation bin and since it was there, I assumed that you intended it to be printed!" He said in defense. "I'm a gossip reporter, for crying out loud! If you didn't want your diary to be read to the viewing world, than you should think before putting a page in the bin!"

"Oh, I'll give you a donation!" Ronilda cracked her knuckles. "It's a novella about a girl who strangles a gossip reporter! First paragraph, coming right up!" Before Ronilda could even attack Charles, Dusk came in and smacked Ronilda on the face with a rolled up newspaper.

"I can't believe you wrote this junk about me!" Dusk shouted in a hurtful tone. "I especially can't believe I thought we were friends!"

While the reformees were busy arguing, Mal discreetly paid a buck to Charles and took a copy of the newspaper edition, but before the group could make their way out, an angry Fairy Godmother and an indifferent Principal Melchior faced them.

"A word in my office, _now!_ "

 _Later, in Fairy Godmother's office_

"'Dusk can be a real attention whore. I mean, seriously, she plays Miss Angels to every single person she meets and that's why she's so popular. And the worst part is that she rubs into my face quite publicly that at least her mom is around to help her with homework, chaperone school field trips, and go shopping at the mall while mine couldn't leave her conference in Budapest for my thirteenth birthday. It's so unfair! She's such a...'" Marius stopped reading out loud the article to everyone in the office. And by everyone, we mean the two principals, Barkin, Shari, Artemis, Ben, Mal, Ruby, Martin, Marius, Penna, and Maligna, who was sitting on her chair with an obviously guilty look. "I'd rather not read the rest of it. It has too many inappropriate words and this article is revolting!" He threw the newspaper on the table hard enough to make Fairy Godmother quiver on her chair. "This how you let your students share gossip? By ripping pages from other's diaries?"

"I never imagined that the guy who was capable of killing his own mother would go as low as rip out a page of his ex's diary and make it published to the viewing world," Penna said while shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, but this is coming from the whore that tried to annihilate the world back in January?" Martin hissed coldly.

"Watch it, Fancy Pants," Marius warned.

"OK, enough!" Fairy Godmother snapped. Before she could say anything else, Artemis intervened and pulled out the container with the Tiger Breath rooted weed from his sleeve and held it out for the others to see Martin suddenly turning dizzy and eventually gaining a stoic poise. His eyes turned form shadowy grey to green.

"Great Wisconsin cheese!" Mr. Barkin exclaimed.

"His eyes...they're _green!_ " Shari gasped.

"Hey, that's what he looked liked!" Maligna pointed her finger at Martin. "His eyes were green and he was walking like a robot when he knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to help him humiliate Dusk and Ronilda."

"And you agreed?" Ben asked in shock.

"I'm Trixie's daughter!" Maligna raised her hands in complain. "Demanding attention is genetic! So I agreed to help him and I used my magic to help him find Ronilda's diary. As soon as he ripped the page he needed, he stuffed it in his shirt and marched out of the dorms!"

"And that's the part where Jessie spotted him donating some gossip when she was leaving math class," Penna said. "The son of Monkey Fist contributing into gossip? That sounded fishy."

Ruby got up and forcefully grabbed the container from Artemis before throwing it into the fireplace. The jar instantly exploded and green, mystical smoke with odd glowing figures slithered their way out through the chimney in hissing tones. Martin suddenly collapsed in his chair.

"That's exactly what happened to Martin when we found him coming back to his house!" Ben put a hand on Martin's forehead.

"The Tiger Breath just hissed at us," Penna said. "I recognized that hissing noise. It's the effect that a dangerous gas makes whenever magic is added in."

"So somebody did try to brainwash Martin," Ruby sighed as she checked the pulse coming from Martin. "But who?"

"Clearly some unknown threat who thinks that using the worst children on the planet is a way to bring discord," Principal Melchior said as he pulled out a bottle of grenadine and poured it into a glass. "After all, isn't it odd that the only two students to be affected by strange attacks are VKs with _troubled_ reputations? Two children who have _killing_ potentials?" He looked at both Penna and Martin once the latter regained consciousness. "After all, at almost every single event of the Pride Games they contributed in, chaos has occurred. Students start arguing with one another. The meaning of the Pride Games is falling apart."

"And this is coming from the one who decided to eventually expel Sternia?" Penna asked coldly.

"She tried to get away with poising the competition," Principal Melchior said with a shrug. "I'm only doing the right thing by disposing St Luther Rose Academy of an infectious student..."

" **CRUCIO!** "

Penna's eyes began to blank out and she unexpectedly aimed her hand at the principal to send a Cruciatus Curse at his gust. Surprisingly, he managed to dodge with great agility and the curse ended up destroying one of the framed images on the wall. Seeing Penna perform an Unforgivable Curse all of a sudden made all of them back away slightly, except for Marius, who grabbed Penna by the shoulders and shook her back to normal. He noticed two patches of black starting to burn their way on her upper back.

Penna, once returned to normal, gasped when she saw what she did and stared at her own shaking hand. Did she just... _perform black magic_?

"You see?" Principal Melchior said. "Even you can't keep yourself from attacking me with dark magic."

"You provoked her! I saw it!" Maligna got up from her seat and pointed an accusing finger at Principal Melchior.

"Would you prefer that I see into that I get you expelled?" His cold suggestion made the other adults gasp.

"Fine! Do whatever you want!" Maligna marched her way out of the office. "But I'm not going to let the other reformees allow you bullying us and provoking VKs anymore!"

Principal Melchior grimaced a bit as he watched the door getting shut.

 _Later on, at the St Luther dorms' common room_

Maligna had managed to gather a good half of the reformees and Troll teens to gather at the common room, where she told them the entire story that occurred at the office of Auradon Prep's headmistress. Everyone was shocked for two things: the part of a student being brainwashed to put the two schools into further chaos and their principal's lack of care.

"And when I said that I saw him provoking De Mort on purpose, he said ' _Would you prefer that I see into that I get you expelled?_ '" Maligna quoted and imitated Melchior's accent. This ended up stirring the anger of all the present reformees.

"This is an outrage!" Emily Bovary shouted.

"Not cool!" Melgo retorted.

"We butt ourselves to win the Pride Games and this how our principal treats us?" Esten Du Bonpain said in disbelief.

"I say we screw the Pride Games and fight back!" Othello Traviesa shouted.

"Yeah!" They all said.

" **Use Sleep Powder**!"

A purple haze suddenly appeared, covering the entire common room. Not knowing what hit them, the reformees fell asleep and their memories of what happened in the last couple hours vanished as they were being carried back to their dorm rooms by a familiar shadowy female and her Scolipede. Once they made sure that all the reformees were in their dormrooms and deeply asleep, the female summoned back her Scolipede and pulled out a mirror that she used to contact with her male associate.

"The reformees have been taken care of," she spoke to the mirror. "By tomorrow, they won't even remember what happened and the VKs will look like complete fools during the remains of the Pride Games."

" _Excellent_ ," the male's voice said. " _They won't know what hit them until the main event comes!_ "

The female put her mirror back in her skirt and snapped her fingers, disappearing in a puff of smoke. After minutes of waiting to make sure that the Sleep Powder dissolved away, an Excadrill popped from underneath the staircase and made its Protect Move disappear so that Ronilda, Sternia, and Nicky could come out safely. Ronilda checked the video that she had recorded on the phone once they hit the armchairs to discuss.

"Thank you, Excadrill." Nicky caressed her Excadrill, who made an affectionate noise as it went back in its Pokeball. "Good thing Excadrill used Protect, otherwise Sleep Powder would have gotten us."

Nicky, that female with the Scolipede and the guy she spoke on the mirror," Sternia said as she rubbed the lenses of her glasses with a handkerchief, "they were two of the tree voices I heard back at the bleachers."

"I got a visual." Ronilda paused the video and showed the clip of the female silhouette. Thanks to the good quality of her camera, Ronilda was able to reveal a female of teenager appearance with a mostly green clothing attire and a massive blonde ponytail with a green and a red streak flowing all the way down to her waist like a mop.

"No doubt, I recognize her," Nicky said. "She's definetly one of the three escaped criminals."


	21. Taking Advice From A Rival

Chapter 21: Taking Advice From A Rival

It was rather unusual for the rest of the next day. When Martin and the others got up for another Saturday, they expected another mob from the reformees, but oddly enough, all the students from St Luther were acting as if the entire diary-in-newspaper drama from yesterday was nothing but a silly story invented by their competition from Auradon Prep. Even Shari and Mr. Barkin were shocked when they found out that not even Maligna confirmed their claims that she would tell to her peers what happened in Fairy Godmother's office.

Despite his uncomfortable worries, especially after Martin learned that someone had used him to tear a page from Ronilda's diary, Martin made sure that it did not affect his routine. Instead of hitting his head hard with questions of him being a potential zombie, he went to town to borrow a few archaeology of Oxford level from the library in order to ensure that he was prepared to take on the freshman level of the major.

"Crazy prepared much?" Samuel joked when he checked them out.

"One can never know," Martin said. He put the books in his black leather satchel and made his way to the exit, passing the guard who daily gave him a gruff, mostly because he disliked seeing a library member walking around barefoot even though Martin made it clear that his monkey feet disdained wearing shoes.

He pushed the door open and came to face a reformee he did not want to be talking about right now.

"I know you ripped my diary while you were being a zombie," Ronilda said as she leaned on one of the pillars that stood at the entrance of the library. Her silhouette was dark from the massive amount of sunlight outside.

"Shocking, since all your comrades claim to not remember a thing," he said.

"What can I say? A little Sleep Powder from a Scolipede knocked them all out, and when they woke up, they thought it was all a dream."

Martin stiffened at the mention of a Poison-type move knocking all the reformees unconscious. "So that's why they don't remember. Who did it?"

Ronilda pulled out her phone and played a video. Martin saw Ronilda hiding underneath a staircase with two other female reformees. The three of them were being shielded by the Protect move of an Excadrill from the fog of Sleep Powder and watching another female walking around with her Scolipede, bringing each of the affected reformees back to their dorms.

" _The reformees have been taken care of. By tomorrow, they won't even remember what happened and the VKs will look like fools during the remains of the Pride Games._ "

" _Excellent. They won't know what hit them until the main event comes._ "

Cue to the girl disappearing via magic and the video ending.

"I know these two," Martin said darkly.

Ronilda blinked. "You do?"

Martin grimaced and gripped the strap of his satchel even tighter. "Let's just say that it's old history that is best kept to myself." He began to march away until he felt Ronilda gripping him by the arm.

"These two just used you to create a larger rift between your school and mine, and if it turns that they might be responsible for the other weird accidents that occurred here, they'll do far worse," Ronilda said. "I highly doubt you want..." she grimaced as he spat the two words out, " _your girlfriend_ , to be a possible target of whatever scheme your old acquaintances are up to."

Martin lost his frown. Ronilda was right. As much as he didn't want to bring up his old relationships, he cared deeply for the new ones, most notably the one who occupied one of the deepest parts of his heart.

He sighed. "They're VKs."

"They are?" Ronilda blinked. "But they're from the Raft."

"The Raft?"

"Underwater jail full of villains that the barrier from the other villain prison couldn't keep in. Nicky's dad, Nick Fury, and the government built it classified to the public. I didn't know it even existed until Nicky suspected the presence of three escaped criminals on campus, and she thinks it's bad because the Raft was supposed to be an inescapable prison until now. And after we saw the girl on the video..."

"It means that the ZAM-trio has gone rogue..." Martin muttered to himself.

Ronilda heard him as she put her phone away. "The ZAM-trio?"

"A mash of their names' first letters. These guys are just as bad as I am."

"Did you work for them or something?"

Martin scoffed. " _Me_ , work for anyone?" His grip tightened on the strap of his satchel even harder. "You of all people should know that I am self-serving! I _don't_ work for others and don't want others to help me unless I'm desperate! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to step away from this situation that's clearly meant for your friend's father and the government and I need to go back to review!" He yanked his arm away from Ronilda's grip and proceeded to march away. Unfortunately, Ronilda followed him.

"So, you practically don't care that three old foes of yours might be lurking in the streets?" Ronilda asked him bitterly.

"I especially don't care that my ex thinks it should be my business!" He retorted.

"Oh, _oh!_ " Ronilda rolled her eyes in anger. She stood before him, blocking his path and ignoring the nearby passerbys watching them argue. "This isn't about your old foes, this is about you being pissed from our breakup!"

"Gee, why would I be?" He shouted sarcastically. "Oh, wait! Now I remember! It's because _you_ lied to me about being relate to my father's foe!"

"Yeah, because by not telling you, you were the only guy I know who appreciated me for who I was and not for being my parents' kid! Honestly, do you know how many men I've encountered who showed interest in me solely for my parents' reputation, my insane family allowance, and all the connections I have? My family fortune is almost as big as the Auradon Treasury and you were the only guy who didn't care!"

"Yes, mostly because A, I didn't know, and B, I'd rather make my own living as I'm trying to rather than run after the fortune of the one pathetic female I've ever met in my life who still doesn't get that I want her out of my life!"

Ronilda dropped her jaw, her hazel eyes looking awfully injured as he gave a small shake of his head and proceeded to leave, only this time he jumped and ran up the building roofs, making him too fast for her to catch up with him. At least running after the one she still had a soft spot for would have helped dry her tears.

"Eh, men!" Ronilda turned to see a café waitress shrugging the scene she had just witnessed. "Once you start loving 'em, they leave ya behind like a sick cow at the end of the herd. Good thing I've been single for the fifty-five years of my life and I'm one healthy lass!"

"Great," Ronilda sniffed. "I'm going to end up as a heartbroken café waitress during my midlife crisis."

 _Later, back on campus_

" **Incoming!** "

If Marius hadn't flown by and pulled Martin out of the way when the latter was returning from campus, Martin would have ended up getting his entire body smashed by a eight-foot-tall wooden lodge carved like the feline versions of Picasso's _Les Demoiselles d'Avignon._ Fortunately, and much to Martin's sadistic pleasure, the log was crushing a passenger onto the bleachers of the tourney field.

"Why is Corbeau Roth Logan being catapulted by a log of cats..." Martin felt his cheeks burning. "Is he... **RUUUUUUUUUUUBBBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYY**!"

The ground literally shook as he screamed and ran straight towards the direction where the lodge came from. It came from the small outdoor woodshop owned by Auradon Prep's arts class, where students had the right to chop specific trees to use for their projects. Martin and Marius found Ruby lifting a recently cut pine tree with Mal and force it onto a working table. "Ruby, was your ex here just a few minutes ago?"

"Yes," she grumbled as she dusted off the tree scraps she got on her purple overalls and dirty white T-Shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail to keep them from getting in the way.

"The guy's an idiot," Mal said as she pulled out a few carving tools from a toolbox and put them on the table. "You're not going to believe it, Monkey Boy, but Corbeau said he wanted to _make up_ with Ruby!"

" _What_?" Martin dropped his jaw while Ruby put on some safety goggles and prepared to turn on a cordless power saw. "I thought he backstabbed you and caused you to go to the Isle!"

"Yeah, why do you think I just had Mal use her magic to throw _our art project_?" Ruby snapped. She began to assault the lodge with her saw furiously, making the other three step back to avoid any accidental hits.

"It reminds me a whole lot of my mother's ex Roland," Marius said. "Even after he cheated on her on their wedding day and she wanted nothing to do with him, he still wanted to be with her to get the crown!" He rubbed his chin in thought. "Ironically, I owe him for cheating on my mother. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."

"Exes," Martin grumbled. "They never learn the meaning of moving on."

"What on earth did he say to Ruby?" Marius asked Mal, since Ruby was still busy murdering the log _à la Jessie Joker_ style. "If he tried to serenade her with a song similar to _C'mon Marianne_ , I vow I will vomit!"

"No, he did worse..." Mal shook her head. "He told her that his reason for not defending her back when she was arrested was because he believed that a 'temporary penance' would help her see the wrong that poisoned her point of view, and after a 'few months' of island prison, she would come to his open arms and thank him for changing her life!" She stuck her tongue out. "Lame."

"I'll say." Marius frowned.

" **That ruffian!** " Martin rolled his hands into tough fists and punched the nearest unoccupied table, slicing him in half with just one hit.

"Easy there, Monkey Boy," Mal said. "F.G can only afford for five outdoor woodshops a year and we already had to replace three thanks to Nora's sentient paintings, Havoc's reality warped tables, and Grinchelda and Mina using one of the tables to build a splinter bomb!"

"Usually, I'd go with someone's neck, Mal!" Martin spat. "But I swear, if Corbeau attempts to do another lame attempt on _my_ Ruby..."

"Easy, there, Fancy Pants. She isn't exactly property, you know," Marius said as he held out his hands in a way that told Martin to calm down, which did not work out, since Martin used one hand to grab Marius by the collar and force the prince to stare him straight in the eye.

"You're right! She isn't property and that's pretty much how Corbeau treats her!" Martin growled in a mix of anger, defense, and jealousy. "She's unique with specific tastes! Any time I can, I go buy her flowers from the florist, but not just any flowers, her _favorites_! Blue chrysanthemums, and I'd put them in an amethyst purple-colored vase because that is precisely her favorite color! If I'm the one ordering our drinks at Wonka Latte, I know she prefers to drink dark coffee with no sugar or cream added and slightly stirred! Her birthday is July 15th and her gemstone is a ruby, but she's into _any_ kind of jewels! She prefers soccer, rides a motorbike, and she's _never_ stands down to things that she strongly believes in!" He let Marius go. " _That's_ how I know Ruby! Because unlike Corbeau, I love Ruby!"

Mal sniffed and pulled out a handkerchief to get rid of the tears staining her cheeks. Even Marius looked touched from the speech. Martin sighed from the long speech and found himself tackled down to the ground by Ruby, who had stopped her sawing to hear Martin's speech of his feelings for her, something that Corbeau never did in the past. Marius covered his eyes and Mal looked away to leave the two to three minutes of solitude just so that Ruby could shower Martin with kisses. By the time they were done and got up, Martin was swaying in a lovesick manner.

"Can't believe it took me one heartbreak to realize that now I have the perfect guy," she said, making the others sigh.

" _No...kidding..._ " Martin sighed happily. Before he could collapse again, Marius caught him by the arms.

"I'll be taking him back to have a nice cup of tea," he said as he started to drag Martin away from the woodshop.

"You do that while Ruby and I go back to our project..." Mal looked at the lodge, which was now a horizontal wooden version of the _Unconditional Surrender_ sculpture with the couple being a monkey and a cat. Mal's eyes narrowed and glanced at Ruby. "Think you overdid it?"

Ruby blushed when she saw what she did and slouched her shoulders in defeat before grabbing a chainsaw and heading to cut down another tree. "At this rate, I'll be the cause of deforestation."

 _Later, at Martin' house_

Marius was locking everything in Martin's house when the latter finally got his head back in place. "What in Hanuman's name are you doing?" Martin demanded.

"Wait..." Marius double checked that he locked the doors, shut the blinds of every window, blocked the chimney with the sofa, and made doubly sure that no one from the outside world would be paying attention. "We're safe. I need to ask you something."

"I'm not exactly the kind of person you'd want to take advice from, old chap," Martin muttered. He dusted off any spectacle he found on a lounge chair before sitting on it.

"Well, you're more experienced than I am, so I have to ask." The prince took a breath and asked more quickly than it took to blend together fruits into a smoothie. "How did you manage to get your first kiss from your dream girl?"

Martin tilted his head. "How did I..." It then hit them, making him laugh and clap his hands to tease Bogfae. "Bogfae and De Mort, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" He laughed even harder. "I can't believe it! You actually like the daughter of Voldemort!"

"And your ex is the daughter of your father's worst nightmare." Marius leaned on the wall, staring at Martin with a deadpan look.

"Solid burn, Bogfae. I'm impressed," he said genuinely.

The prince shrugged. "What can I say?"

Martin sighed and sat in a Lotus position. "Alright, Bogfae. You like De Mort. What's the problem?"

"OK. When _you_ first started hanging out with your ideal girl, did you ever feel like you were being blocked from being close to the level of kissing?"

"Let me think." Martin went back to the days when he first started dating Ruby on the Isle. He didn't recall any obstacles when it came to kissing Ruby, but he did recall the times when he felt like the universe was forcing him to be away from her. The one that still scarred him was when she had to embark on a perilous quest in the Infinite Forest of Evil barely a week after they started dating, which led to the following: a Dear John letter from Ruby, nearly being burned alive with her, and watching her getting impaled. True, she was revived, but her death was one of the most miserable moments of his life. "Yeah, I can sort of relate. Why? Does De Mort not want to kiss you?"

"No, it's just that... Whenever I do try to kiss her, something comes up and interrupts us right when I'm an _inch_ close to kissing her!" Marius fidgeted his fingers in frustration. "First, it was an unexpected wave that soaked us when I tried to kiss her at the Easter Festival, then Thursday, after we had dinner at Sebastian Groove Bar, the fire drill turned on and everyone rushed out, thus interrupting us, and then yesterday it was Penna's _kids_ interrupting us with the news of the diary scenario!"

"Penna's kids? Oh, you mean Jessie and Minuit." This was awkward for Martin, imagining a sixteen-year-old looking demon witch of the past and her 'teenage' kids together in a family picture. "Yeah, those two are probably jealous."

"What do they have to be jealous of?" Marius crossed his arms. "It's not like him stealing Penna from them."

"We'll see how long it takes for the insane cheerleader and harlequin to decide when to chop your head." Martin shrugged indifferently. "Look, take it from my own experiences. By the time my dating status with Ruby became official to the public, kissing in front of others wasn't a problem. However, trying to gain the perfect first kiss is tricky, especially when it comes to disapproving fools like annoying stalkers or paranoid parents."

"Paranoid parents?" Marius suddenly gulped, making Martin noticed.

"Are your parents paranoid?"

"NO!" Marius said in defense before grunting. "But my grandmother is a paranoid matchmaker! Back when my parents were still, you know, crossing the zone of enemies to the one of lovers, she was restlessly trying to hook my father up with _any_ female and kept asking annoying questions to my parents when they began to date, from when would they marry to when my birthday would be! She's been begging for grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren! Trust me, if your grandmother was my Grannyselda, you'd be wishing that you had no grandparents!"

Martin shivered in the disgust at the thought.

"So, about the you-know-what?" Marius quickly changed the idea.

"Excellent idea," Martin mumbled in relief. He took a breath. "Just...take De Mort in a place that no one knows about and where you feel like you have a territorial advantage. Because if there's one thing I've managed to understand from my experience, is that a great average of the female species prefer it when the males have their way with them in the male's territory, separated from anyone that could disturb any chance of ruining a romantic moment!" His right fist punched his left palm and managed to do a similar version with his feet.

Marius rubbed his chin as he registered Martin's advice in his head. "Sounds a lot like how my parents added the extra spice to their romance. My father led my mother through a flight in the Dark Forest, showing everything beautiful about it...with no one around to bug them..."

"There you have it!" Martin said in encouragement.

"Until he briefly turned his way and saw the fairy army coming."

Martin felt himself cracking like a doctor losing his patience with a patient. "OK, make sure you're at least a 100 miles away from anyone, whether it's an army or a bunch of hippies!"

"A bunch of hippies...The Troll Teens!" Marius snapped his fingers in realization. "They're holding a karaoke party tonight! Since the whole school will be there, I sneak with Penna out of here and to a little somewhere I know in the woods!"

"Wait. A...a...a _karaoke party_?" Martin suddenly gulped. He jumped off his seat and began to pace frantically all around the living room. "Oh, no! If...if there's a karaoke party, I'm doomed!"

"What's so horrible about a karaoke party?" Marius asked.

"It's not the party!" Martin grabbed the prince by the shoulders and shook them hysterically. "I like _seeing_ and _listening_ to other people singing at concerts or karaoke, but I just hate _having to sing_!"

" _You_ sing?" Marius asked skeptically as he removed the monkey hands off his shoulders. "But you're so...so...what's the word I'm looking for?" He snapped his fingers. " _Antisocial_."

"I was homeschooled," Martin said drily. "This is technically my first year in a school."

"For your information, I was taught inside my castle as well. Only the commoners back in the Fae Realm get to go to school while the nobility and sovereigns are educated at home."

 _Ouch_. Martin just got himself a solid burn. "Look, I _can_ sing, but I hate doing it because the last and only time I sang, it was when I was still with my ex!"

"That makes sense." Marius nodded.

"Seriously, with her still not getting the clue that she needs to move on from our breakup, she could try to get back at me by making sure that I get forced to sing in front of everyone! I'll be humiliated!"

"Can't you just not go?"

"No. If there's also another thing I know about my Ruby, it's that she can't resist doing karaoke."

"Feign to be sick?"

"With the Tiger Breath incidents? Fairy Godmother will go in that mother bear attitude she gives to every sick student. Last January, Gilliard got sick from the chili served at the cafeteria when we first started staying here and she ended up _pampering_ him with seaweed-flavored pastries to calm down his upset stomach!"

"Why don't you sneak out of campus and go hide in town or something?"

"Thanks to the incidents, I can't go out in town without asking permission first."

"Then hit yourself on the head during the party and purposely get yourself a concussion?"

"Hello, I am _not_ damaging my perfect brain!" Martin protectively put his hands on his head. "It has a brain with a 147-level intelligence quotient! I am not going to Oxford as an oaf!"

Marius sighed and patted Martin on the shoulder. "Well, I tried my best. Good luck and thank you." He headed for the door and gently closed it behind him.

 _Minutes later, in Penna's house_

Penna was putting her clean laundry back in her drawers when she heard a tapping noise coming from the window. Curious, she opened it and found a Night Violet flower sitting on top of an envelope stamped with the Fae Realm crest. Her heart skipped a beat as she took the flower and envelope in her hands and shut the window and blinds. The last thing she wanted was for a nosy VK to pass by and peak at her reading the note on her bed.

" _'Dearest Viper Eyes. I was wondering how you'd feel about meeting me tonight for another tranquil walk in the woods. If yes, please reply by having Naga deliver your written response. Sincerely, Bug Fly_.'" Penna felt her organ beating within her body's wall of ribs as she read the note. She quickly whistled and Naga came slithering in her room right when Penna finished writing her response on a spare sheet of paper and putting it in an envelope.

"Can you deliver this to Marius, please?" she asked. As a response, the snake grabbed the envelope in its mouth and swallowed it. "Good girl." Penna hugged the snake before letting it slither away. She proceeded to hide her letter from Marius in a small wall compartment that she kept hidden behind a framed picture of her, Jessie, and Minuit during Jessie's last birthday party and went to the kitchen to fetch a nice glass full of fresh water to put the Night Violet in. Once that was done, she proceeded to put the flower by her nightstand and open her closet in order to go through her clothes like any teen girl would before her date.

 _At the tourney field_

"OK, girls!" Audrey clapped her hands in encouragement once she and the other cheerleaders were done practicing their cheerleading. "The Pride Games event of cheerleading will be tomorrow morning, we've been practicing for weeks, so let's do our best to beat those Loud Roadrunners!"

"Yeah!" the rest of the cheerleaders agreed.

" _Puh-lease_!"

The squad turned to see several girls from the Loud Roadrunners' personal cheerleading squad: Maligna, Cassie, Hermia, Ariel, and some other girls they didn't know. Since St Luther Rose Academy was built on the ruins of Middleton High, the cheerleading outfits consisted of the old school's purple, orange, and white colors. The only difference was that this squad's uniform consisted of a white jumpsuit similar to the ones that gymnasts wore during the Olympics with glittery purple sleeves, orange swan neck-line, and their school's iconic mascot bursting from their shirts. White sneakers and the girls' hair pulled up into ponytails were also included.

"Our school has had a history of winning any cheerleading regional that are thrown at us!" Maligna said in her usual proud tone.

"FYI, Maligna, so does Auradon Prep!" Evie retorted.

"FYI back at you, Evie, but St Luther was built on Middleton High, and do you know who went to Middleton High?" Hermia said. " _Kim Possible_."

"The last cheerleading captain at Middleton High before it was built into St Luther," a blonde cheerleader said. "Her team _never_ lost!"

"Oh, and who's currently _our_ unstoppable cheerleading captain and Kim Possible's daughter?" Ariel pointed out. "I just remembered! It's Ron!"

While the St Luther cheerleaders snickered, the ones of Auradon Prep began to look like they might as well give up due to Ariel's point until the St Luther cheerleaders began screaming and running away in fright. Wondering what the heck just saved their dignity, the Auradon Prep squad looked and saw Naga slithering towards them.

"Naga, you really are awesome!" Mal knelt down and held out her hand, expecting the snake to accept a nice scratch underneath the neck. Instead, Naga smacked Mal on the face with the tip of her tail. "I see she still doesn't like me." Mal groaned as she rubbed her red cheek.

"Sorry, Mal. Naga still hates you for that time when you trampled a garden snake back on the Isle." Minuit pulled a dead rat out of her skirt and threw it at Naga, who did an oddly perfect flip by jumping in the air and spinning in order to catch the rat right in her mouth. The cheerleaders clapped their hands together once Naga landed perfectly in the field.

"Wow, Naga!" Audrey said in genuine impressment. "You'd be a cool cheerleader if you were human!" As a response, Naga took the pom-pom that Audrey had by her feet with its tail and held it before her head, shaking it like a fan and giving Audrey a weird look that must have been the snake's way of blinking...if it could.

"Oh, I can't believe it!" Minuit snorted in amusement. "Naga just sassed at you!"

"That's sassing?" Audrey frowned as Naga put the pom-pom back where it was and slithered towards the bleachers, shaking its behind at them. "OK, _now_ I can tell she's sassing at me!"

Ben and Marius were sitting on the first row of the bleachers, discussing together the boring mumbo-jumbo about politics that no reader wants to read about until they spotted Naga coming their way.

"Hey, Naga," Marius said warmly as the snake let him scratch its long stomach like a puppy. "How are you?" To answer his question, Naga regurgitated the response from Penna, making Marius look like he just won the lottery.

"Guess who caught you _this_?" Marius pulled something from underneath the bench. Naga hissed in excitement when it saw Marius holding a live raccoon by the tail and began to shake its coils insanely. "Fetch!"

Marius threw the raccoon in the air, a perfect throw for someone playing Frisbee in the Olympics. Naga slithered with unusual speed and jumped in the air, leaving the unfortunate raccoon to land right in the open mouth of the snake, which didn't even hesitate to swallow it whole. Some reformees playing soccer ran away screaming when they saw a digesting Naga slithering her way back to Marius in order to sit its head on his lap and relax.

"Did Naga just slither _half way_ across the field just to catch that raccoon?" Dusk, who had been passing by, asked while Marius scratched Naga on the head.

"She just _loves_ raccoons," Marius said with a smile that eventually turned uneasy. "That's what the cook's old pet raccoon baby Soot ended up discovering when Naga was left under babysitting the first time Penna and I met." He sighed. "I pity the size difference between Auradon and the Fae Realm."

"How so?" Ben asked.

"The citizens are close to the size of a mouse here and the animals are big enough to ride on," Marius explained. "For instance, since we are so much smaller back home, Naga here could have been a vicious predator that could easily swallow us whole. But here, she's harmless." As if offended by his last remark, Naga opened her mouth and burped at the prince's face, making him grimace and pinch his nose at the scent of dead raccoon. "I stand corrected. Not harmless."

"Positively speaking, with Naga's love for eating vermins, the janitor has got himself a new best friend and Auradon Prep doesn't have to pay the exterminator," Ben said, making the others laugh. Marius grinned a bit and took the advantage of leaving while the others continued their ridiculous giggling. Naga slithered back with him before he came to face the woods.

"You _will_ make sure that nobody comes disturbing us tonight, right?"

The snake nodded.

"Good. Have a nice afternoon."

Naga tilted its head in response and made its way while Marius made his way back to the Fae Realm encampment. After notifying his servants that he would be out for the evening and therefore there was no need to cook him dinner, he went to his tent. Once he put his stuff down, he proceeded to go back to the page in his book and finish reading the last paragraph on the topic of Kraken Needles.

"' _Due to their method of usage being based on the abusive hatred given by the parent to the host, the Kraken Acupuncture Needles are immune to intense negative contact, but weak towards the positive. Therefore, if the host were to be given a kiss of pure romance or any sort of physical touch of sincere affection, the skin tissue where the Kraken Needles are planted will soften and the affection-bringer can carefully pull out the needles one at time. Note: once pulled out, the needles can never be reused_." Marius reread the paragraph a million times to ensure that he got it memorized in his head. It would remind him that, while he was relieving Penna out of her Kraken Needles, he needed to make it look like it was just an ordinary moment of making out between an unfortunate, powerless witch and a madly enamored hybrid prince.

 _It shouldn't be that hard_ , he thought to himself as he put the book back in his hiding place and went to search through his collection of gauntlets until he found the cyan pair that he was looking for primarily. He twisted to golden piece of armor the left hand gauntlet had in the wrist area, revealing a secret small canister with twenty miniature compartments capable of fitting twenty test tubes. This particularly designed gauntlet was part of the armor that fairy soldiers carry on them at all times. Back in the days when the two kingdoms were still at war, the fairy soldiers would hide aromatherapy medicine in that gauntlet in case someone was injured during battle. And now, he planned on using it to store all the Kraken Needles that he would pull out of Penna's back tonight.

"Finally, we'll have our first kiss," he said.


	22. When Love Is A Strange Magic

Chapter 22: When Love Is A Strange Magic

Sunsets, especially in the month of April, were one of Marius' favorite things to witness back in the Fae Realm. Seeing the sun lower itself in the horizon in a gradient of fire orange to midnight blue, perfect complementary colors, was like looking at a natural painting. When he was younger, he and his parents would very often have dinner in the upper outdoor parlor of their castle in order to witness and admire the sunsets. It was even by watching the show of dusk that his father taught him the complementary colors.

It was almost 5:30pm and sunset, which came out later in Auradon than in the Fae Realm, was beginning to bloom its colorful rays upon the layers of tree foliage as Marius waited patiently in the woods, not too far away from the camp. He wanted to reassure his servants that he'd be fine on his own once Penna came and he had to make _triple_ sure that Sugar Plum was nowhere in sight. Honestly, he hated it when that fairy was as nosy as his grandmother back home.

He heard a branch cracking, making him tense and almost put himself in an attacking mode until he saw that it was only Penna rushing in.

"Relax, Bug Fly," she said as he went back to his normal pose. "Sorry I'm late... Had to come up with a reasonable excuse to convince others that I wasn't...I mean, that we weren't..."

"Getting into one of their ideals of a sappy teen romance?" He asked. "Believe me, I was raised to hate the genre. I don't even like Romeo and Juliet."

"Do tell. Even in real life, they had a miserable life." Penna took a deep breath and clasped her hands together in a rather reserved way, which Marius had observed during the previous weeks with Penna that it was a characteristic her evil side showed whenever trying to get back to business. "So, where shall we walk to? Because I really would hate having to accidentally step into the hunting reserve."

"Well, I had a fairly interesting idea, but I would need your trust," Marius said. He pulled something out of his tunic: a small vial with brownish powder in it.

"A powdered Drink Me potion," Penna said with a small gasp. "You actually make powdered potions?"

"It's part of aromatherapy," Marius explained. "Due to some size issues when we first came here, I had to concoct some of this powder for those back at camp for those with homesickness issues."

"You mean you shrink them?" Penna blinked until she remembered. "Your usual height is much smaller."

"A little demonstration." He uncorked the vial and brought it to his nose. His nostrils took only one, short sniff of the power odor, and soon enough, his veins began to glow and he instantly shrunk to the size of a normal mouse, clothes and all, and was now flying around Penna, who quickly grabbed the falling vial and gasped when she saw a tiny Marius flying around her. "Feel fascinated for a flight Fae Realm style?"

"You mean...shrink?" Penna gulped. "I...I haven't done it in years and the effects might be different from..."

"Penna?" Marius flew in front of the now huge Penna and managed to confront her with his small eyes. "Do you trust me?"

She said nothing for a few seconds before eventually giving in and sniffed the vial. Marius felt himself smiling when he saw Penna's veins glowing but began to panic when he saw Pena shrinking and not her clothes. "Penna?" He flew down the pile of clothes, dreading that his powder accidentally disintegrated his only love. Now he'd never be able to live with himself. "Penna!"

"Please don't look!"

Marius sighed in relief when he heard her muffled voice coming from underneath the pile of teal dress, black leggings and boots. He flew towards the source of her voice and instantly got her out of the pile, leading him to blush awkwardly. The problem with the Drink Me potion is that, while it helps shrink sizes, it has one ugly effect whether it's in Auradon or Wonderland.

The shrinking individual's clothes do not shrink as well, which meant that Marius was holding close to his chest a Penna who was trying as much as she could to hold up her loose black lace lingerie dress and underwear, forcing the prince to keep his control at the sight of her familiar, but gorgeous chest, her perfect waist, her divine legs, and the hardly covered organ that began to give the prince the instinct, animal-like wanting that male goblins have at mating season. Frankly, he wouldn't have minded it if he could remove the fabric, turning the maiden into an even more gorgeous newborn Venus.

Penna's old clothes suddenly turned into snakes that slithered away and her lingerie suddenly morphed, making Penna look like she was being eaten alive by worm-sized black snakes until they melted, leaving Penna in a black lace sundress (the lace being shaped like snakes) with matching ankle-strapped sandals. Marius blinked at the scenario he had just seen.

"Disturbing, right?" Penna said nervously. The prince said nothing before he shrugged his shoulders.

"I've seen weirder." He held out his hand. "Shall we?"

She looked uncertainly at his hand before sighing and finally taking his hand, feeling the warmth passing through the contact of the two skins. With a pure smile on him, he lifted her in his arms. Penna inhaled nervously while her hands wrapped together behind the prince's neck, feeling the floral fabric of his collar. After quickly checking that she was well positioned in his arms, he took flight. Penna cuddled in fright at first, but after she had the guts to reopen her eyes, she gasped at the sight she saw. Everywhere, trees looked so big, it was almost as if they were wooden Mount Everest clones crowned with green clouds of foliage. Marius held her tightly while he flew through obstacles of branches, thickets, and bushes with great speed and agility, stunning Penna on how fast he really was with the perfect size.

Marius folded his wings together, taking quite a dive like he did during the first flight he shared with Penna. The latter screamed in excitement as if she were riding a roller coaster. They flew past a hopping rabbit, up the waterfall in the Enchanted Lake, and up in the blue sky, with the large kingdom resting below them. Penna couldn't keep herself from laughing at the top of her lungs as she felt Marius lifting her up in the air, like a couple dancing in the clouds.

 _Meanwhile, back in Auradon Prep_

"Welcome to our Karaoke Smash-down!" Gladiola spoke through the microphone to the dozens of students from both schools who came to the auditorium to either sing karaoke or watch their friends screaming. Cheers were heard all over the bleachers.

"So here's how the Karaoke Smash-down works," Gladiola explained as she waved her hand at Disco Jam, who was standing at the DJ table with two carton boxes before him. "Each of the two boxes has names of students currently present based on your school. When we draw your name out, you have to compete against the other chosen person by singing songs mashed by us Trolls. Whoever wins gets a cool prize and whoever loses can't complain. Are you ready?"

They screamed in cheer. "Then let's do this! Bring it on, Disco Jam!"

The latter winked and proceeded to pull out two names. "OK! Our first competitors are... Gladiola for St Luther and Ruby from Auradon Prep!"

Everyone cheered while Gladiola curtsied and Ruby made her way from her seat to the stage. "Good luck!" Martin called out.

Ruby was handed a microphone while Disco Jam set up a disk to play. "Mash up of 'They Don't Know' and 'Strange Magic', comin' right up!" The music played in a perfect remix of the two combined songs while a screen was lowered to show the lyrics.

Gladiola: _You're waking meadows without the sunlight_

 _But I ain't got time to listen to too many shit._

 _Yeah._

Ruby: _Making waves and the wind in my pony, tap-tap alright_

 _'Cause I ain't got time to them talking my day._

 _Oh no, oh no._

Gladiola: _Yeah, girlfriend, that's right._

Back in the woods, Marius flew with Penna above the ocean's surface, holding her close as the two had an impossible dance above the grand blue while a bunch of nearby dolphins swam by, making a great water fountain effect with the rays of sunset.

Gladiola and Ruby: _So light this fire of strange magic_

 _Sing, like no one's heard_

 _It's a strange magic_

 _Dance, it's us and that strange magic against the world._

The couple flew straight into a bush that exploded into a flock of colorful butterflies that flew in a beautiful colorful mess that sparkled in their eyes. Still, it did not stop the prince and the sorceress from landing on the solid ground and the former making the latter twirl under the rainbow rotunda of butterflies.

Gladiola: _Oh, oh, oh_

Gladiola and Ruby: _They don't know, they don't know, I got a strange magic_

 _They don't know, they don't know what a strange magic it is._

 _It's a strange magic that says_

 _Thinking of all this is good_

 _If I've got you._

 _They don't know, they don't know, I got a strange magic._

Marius and Penna landed near a bird's nest just at the perfect moment to witness the mother sparrow giving birth to five chicks that the other two couldn't resist caressing. Luckily, the chicks were as docile as puppies.

Ruby: _Yo, listen! Watch me!_

 _You're sailing softly to catch that feeling_

 _Of a land I've always known and made me dreaming,_

 _So hold on to it for as long as you can._

Gladiola: _We can fly so high and run away_

Ruby: _Run away_

Gladiola: _To only where we know_

 _Boy, I've got plans._

The couple landed by a pavement of stone that seemed to host hanging vines, but when Marius pulled them like a curtain, they revealed to hide a cavern full of green, teardrop shaped crystals that hung from the ceiling like chandelier stalactites. Penna's eyes gleamed at the sight of those jeweled waterfalls as she and Marius walked through them. Out of curiosity, she tapped one of them, causing a glass-like dinging sound to come out of it and for the green color to turn into a transparent one. Marius fascinated her even more by tapping some of the other crystals, creating a dinging rhythm that made the cavern fill up with the sound of a strange magic.

Gladiola and Ruby: _So light this fire of strange magic_

 _Sing, like no one's heard_

 _It's a strange magic_

 _Dance, it's us and that strange magic against the world._

Ruby: _Oh, oh, oh_

Ruby and Gladiola: _They don't know, they don't know, I get a strange magic_

 _They don't know, they don't know what a strange magic it is._

 _It's a strange magic that says_

 _Thinking of all this is good_

 _If I've got you._

 _They don't know, they don't know, I got a strange magic._

Marius and Penna danced together in their new secret ballroom of crystals. The hanging beauties were radiant, but not as luminous as the two pairs of eyes that were staring at each other with complete passion while their minds were in the clouds and their hearts together.

Penna: _Oh._

 _I'll never be the same again._

Marius: _I've been told how it's got to end,_

 _But these were just sweet dreams._

Gladiola: _They don't know, they don't know, they don't know bout that strange magic_

 _Light the fireworks, let it catch fire, it's a strange magic till it burns._

Ruby: _Pull her in close, you gotta let them know who's got a strange magic_

Marius: _Take my hand, and it's our strange magic against the world_

Gladiola: _Sing it to me one more time._

Penna and Marius: _It's you and me, it's our strange magic against the world._

Ruby: _Sing it to me one more time._

Penna and Marius: _It's you and me, it's our strange magic against the world._

Gladiola: _It's magic, oh, oh, oh_

Ruby: _It's magic I'm trying to tell you, honey_

Gladiola and Ruby: _It's strange magic against the world._

 _Oh, oh, oh._

Marius and Penna: _They don't know, they don't know, I get a strange magic_

 _They don't know, they don't know what a strange magic it is._

Gladiola and Ruby: _It's a strange magic that says_

 _Thinking of all this is good_

 _If I've got you._

 _They don't know, they don't know, I got a strange magic._

Gladiola: _You're waking meadows without the sunlight_

Ruby: _Making waves and the wind in my pony, tap-tap alright_

 _They don't know, they don't know what a strange magic it is._

Gladiola and Ruby: _It's a strange magic that says_

 _Thinking of all this is good_

 _If I've got you._

All together: _They don't know, they don't know, I got a strange magic._

Back in the auditorium, everyone was cheering to the competitors who ended up getting a tie-score for their amazing performance, which resulted with them sharing in half their reward being a $50 dollar gift card to Wonka Latte.

Meanwhile, back in the hidden cavern, Marius created a campfire to warm them up a bit since the night was getting chilly.

"You know, for someone of royal birth, you're quite the natural survivor," Penna commented as Marius sat down next to her on the rocky floor.

"Thanks, I camp too much," he shrugged teasingly, making Penna laugh and shake her head. Marius looked up at the hanging crystals. "You know, I never imagined that I'd find crystals like these in places other than the Dark Forest. It almost feels like... Auradon has a piece of home."

"Home..." Penna sighed. Everyone had a home except her. No matter where she went, it was always somewhere where she'd feel imprisoned by her father's overbearing shadow. The Riddle Estate was her birthplace but not her home. Hogwarts was her first school, but not home. The Isle of the Lost was where she once dominated all the villains, but not home. And Auradon, where mostly everyone resented her, not home.

"It's a shock that there are only two or three more weeks left for the Pride Games," Marius said in disbelief. "By the time the closing ceremony's over, I'll have to return to the Fae Realm..."

"Will you ever come back...even to visit?" Penna asked, her tone indicating a slight pinch of hope.

"Well, now that friendly terms have come between me and Ben, I will most likely make the Fae Realm and Auradon allies once I become king this summer." He gave Penna a grateful smile. "You know, if it weren't for you, I'd still be as biased as I was towards the humans when I first came here."

"I have that effect on almost every single person I meet," Penna said smugly. The prince chuckled at the remark while Penna blushed. "At least, one thing will be sure out of all this: your parents will be proud of you once you become the great king you want to be."

Marius looked touched from her comment. "Thanks," he whispered while his right hand cupped Penna's cheek. She felt his thumb gently caressing the edge of her lips, forcing her to feel an unusual increase in temperature. "One thing _I'm_ sure of is that they would surely come to like you."

He felt Penna stiffen a bit in his touch. "Don't keep your hopes up too much. I've been known to be the bane of parents." She sighed. "The fact that Minuit and Jessie were orphaned and under my care was because their parents thought that their kids would be permanently damaged if they were to associate with me, which is why they abandoned them in the first place..."

Marius chuckled. "And people call _you_ cruel and heartless?"

"You _did_ check my evil resumé, right?" Penna asked cautiously. "Murder, blackmail, black magic, enslavement, brainwashing, world domination..."

"Yes, and I also checked the neutral resumé. Orphan lover, hidden shy girl, unbreakable modesty, considering what her actions can do to others, intelligent..." His thumb caressed even further, this time causing Penna to feel a series of stomach butterflies. "And wonderful above all."

Penna felt her cheeks burning up from her blush and her mouth coming up to a smile. "Gee, I'm...I..." She chuckled in a mix of gushing and freaked anxiety. "I'm acting weird, aren't I?"

The prince leaned in, making Penna's emotions feel just like they did back at the Easter Festival until that wave interrupted them. "Not even close," he whispered.

It only took him one more leaning movement until finally, after some much mental begging on his side and decades of no romantic gestures on her side, his dark lips pressed gently onto her rosy ones. The shock came at Penna like lightning through her chest, causing her to open her mouth for a gasp and inadvertently deepening the first kiss. The turmoil of flavors and emotions was going on insanely through every single cell in her organism as her mouth, for the very first time, savored the lip contact of a male, which surprisingly tasted like sugary tree sap while his lips had the feeling of rough skin turning into tree bark. For Marius, the situation was almost similar and he enjoyed it. Aside from Penna being the most wonderful person he ever met, she was also the one and only beautiful creature he ever kissed. His goblin and fairy hormones went intense as his mouth tasted hers, which had the divine juice of every flower nectar in the Fae Realm, and his nose got a better inhaling of her natural perfume, a perfect mixture of violets and snakeskin.

He broke off the kiss to give Penna some air. She sure looked like she needed it, for she almost collapsed in his arms. "W...wow," he gasped.

"Is that...what...a first kiss...feels like?" Penna panted while Marius held her close to his heart. "Loss of air, new senses, and the guts wanting to explode?"

"No." Marius shook his head before smiling at her. " _That_ was a strange magic that we have a simple name for back in the Fae Realm."

"Really?" She asked. "What's the name?"

He stroke her hair as if she were a fragile doll. "Love," he whispered. "I love you, Penna De Mort. By Oberon's horns, I love you with all my heart."

Penna blinked, surprised by his words until she mellowed out. "And, by the River Styx...so do I."

They kissed again, only this time with more intense passion that led to Marius accidently tripping, leaving Penna to lay on his torso. The awkward situation did not prevent the two from their infatuation exchange. Marius' hands went from holding Penna's cheeks to slithering their way to her back, making Penna moan as she felt the masculine hands groping her flesh.

Let's not forget after all that, throughout the 116 years of her life, Penna De Mort had never been exposed to any sort of sexual activity with someone of the opposite gender, so the whole thing she was currently enduring made her think that this was just part of the process of first-timers, including the electrifying sensations she was having on her back. But what she failed to notice was, with all the kissing and touching distracting her, Marius's hands were in movement on her back. Camouflaged by Penna's long hair, he managed to hide his action of lowering the back area of Penna's dress with his left hand while his right hand moved around the rib cage, collarbones, torso, and spine areas, feeling the hood of each Kraken Acupuncture Needle.

This was tricky since he kept his eyes closed, so he used his fingers as guides. Wanting to take small steps, he figured that starting with the removal of seven needles maximum should work for now. Under the guise of caressing Penna, his fingers found three needles forming an arc near her right collarbone and carefully removed reach of them as if removing a splinter from the skin that was getting softer than a marshmallow. The removal of each needle caused Penna to get those electrifying sensations and kiss the prince with even more passion that he had to keep one eye open to remind himself of taking the opportunity and removing three more needles. As he pulled out the six needles he currently got, he carefully placed them in the canister hidden in his left gauntlet.

 _Only one more to go_ , he thought as he made his way to a needle he felt in the upper area of Penna's spine. An electric shot stung his finger when he tried touching this needle in particular, causing him to yelp in silence but for Penna to break off their kiss and jump in fright as if she had just experienced the electric chair.

" _ **NO!**_ " She screamed before shaking her head in order to regain her senses.

"Penna?" Marius frowned with genuine concern, wondering why she suddenly screamed, while he hid his hands behind his back and tried to rub them in the hopes of getting rid of the bloody stains his fingers got while extracting the needles. "Are you fine?"

"I'm fine..." She put a hand on her forehead. "Just...overwhelmed."

"Do you want me to take you back to your house?" He offered.

She smiled weakly at him. "Yes, I'd like it very much."

 _Minutes later, back in Malevia Village_

It was almost close to 9:45pm when Marius flew them back to Malevia Village (after he made sure to use the aromatherapy powder they needed to get their larger size). Before they left, he quickly grabbed a cloak from his camp and put it over Penna to cover her slightly shrunken lingerie (and the bloody stains her back was having). By the time they reached Penna's house, some students were already beginning to go to bed.

"So, tomorrow's Pride Games events will be the cheerleading cheer-off and the Pokemon Pride Contest," Marius said. "Will I see you there?"

"If I'm not this unusually exhausted..." Penna let out a small yawn. "Never knew that first kisses could be so emotional." She smiled at Marius. "It was still so...wonderful."

"Thank you, Viper Eyes. Sleep well." He smiled, which smiled even bigger after Penna gave him a small peck on the lips and went inside her house. Once he made sure that she closed the door and the lights were off, he did a victory jump.

"YES! WHOO-HOO!" He did a summersault over the fence and flew in circles above and around Malevia Village.

Marius: _Wise men say_

 _Only fools, only fools rush in._

 _But I can't help falling in love with you._

He flew above Florence Poison Isley's garden and snatched a daisy flower, ignoring the sentient bush-dogs as he flew in deeper circles of emotions.

Marius: _Shall I say,_

 _Would it be, would it be a sin,_

 _That I can't help falling in love with you?_

He sighed as he sniffed the daisy and pinned it on his tunic before he landed in front of Martin's house. Seeing the lights coming from the living room's window and the fact that the door looked unlocked, he rushed in and into the living room.

"FANCY PANTS, IT WORKED!" he exclaimed gratefully at the top of his lungs until he noticed the crowd he had just stepped in: Martin, sitting on his armchair like a convict, surrounded by Fairy Godmother, Principal Melchior, the U.N representative Nick Fury, King Ben, Mal, Hermia Bartok, Ruby, and Ronilda, who looked rather negatively at Martin until the Fae Realm prince showed up.

"Oh, Marius," Ben said in surprise.

"Your Highness, we weren't expecting you." Fairy Godmother bowed her head to her prince as he walked in the room. "I'm terribly sorry, but this is an inconvenient time."

"And just what is so inconvenient that you would hide from one of your superiors?" Marius asked coldly, making Fairy Godmother cringe. If there's one that thing that every loyalist to the crown should know, it's that you should never hide something from your sovereigns, especially when they are connected to gods.

"Allow me, Your Highness," Principal Melchior said. "You see..."

"Zip it and let my subject do the talking!" Marius snapped as he began to get impatient. "If I wanted to get your opinion, I would have asked!"

Melchior frowned in bitterness while Hermia and Ronilda smirked. Clearly, they were adoring the sight of their impassive principal getting criticized by the prince despite the former being know for making his opinion superior to those of the minors.

Fairy Godmother gave a small nod of gratitude to the prince for making Melchior shut up. She sighed and glanced at Martin. "One of my students might have done some...slight acts that go against the rules."

"To clear things up, he had one of the Isle of The Lost students use a contact to hack into the list of all the students chosen for the Pokemon Pride Contest tomorrow and had his name replaced with this one." Nick Fury pointed at Hermia, who lost her smile for a moment. "Just so you can understand, Prince Marius, 'hacking' in Auradon..."

"Means stealing unwanted information," Marius said flatly. "I'm not stupid, you know. I've been paying attention to that Internet class in Auradon Prep." He turned to Martin and glared at him before putting a comforting pat on the back. "The robe again?"

"The robe again." Martin nodded solemnly.

"Penna told me the story of your father-being-framed-for-impersonating-a-lemur-mascot," Marius said pitifully. "After seeing those ugly creatures, I don't blame you for being embarrassed with that prank."

"For crying out loud, Martin, Monkey Fist was _messing_ with you!" Ruby exclaimed in exasperation and raised her arms in the air. "He was just doing you a small joke and we were just joining in! I still can't believe you thought we were being serious!"

"Well excuse me if I was raised to be the replica of a no-nonsense megalomaniac!" Martin talked back and gave Ronilda a murderous glare. "And you can thank _Miss Stoppable_ here for pushing my buttons!" He said 'Miss Stoppable' with such venomous hatred.

"He does have a point." Hermia shrugged at Ronilda.

"Well that doesn't justify the fact that you got our list, a _governmental_ document, hacked just to get out of the Pride Games event," Nick Fury said crossly, but calmly.

"Look, Martin, I know you don't want to participate in the event," Ben said gently, "but you could have at least asked rather than hacked. Do you even realize that committing a nearly illegal act could have an impact on your Oxford application?"

Martin tensed. It was pretty obvious to everyone that he was aware that even one crime could jeopardize everything he worked so hard for the last three months. Marius noticed him biting his lip with a pinch of sophisticated terror. This monkey boy really did know how to hide back his fears when at his worst moments in order to avoid looking weak.

"Now, now, let's not get all over heads and jump into dramatic conclusions," Marius said calmly as he kept his hand on Martin's shoulder. "Frankly, we can't all blame our good friend here for developing some slight-rule breaking out of paranoia." He turned to Fairy Godmother and Nick Fury. "Certainly you didn't think of how he might react about being placed in an event where he does not find it in his best area. After all, Martin here, from what I've seen and heard, is more of an _intellectual_ and _martial-arts_ oriented individual."

"Yes, of course, Your Highness," Fairy Godmother said quietly.

"And until now, has he ever broken a rule at Auradon Prep?"

"Well, no, Your Highness."

"He never even broke a rule back in Dragon Hall," Ruby pointed out.

"And there's usually _at least_ 70% of students breaking rules every year," Mal added in.

"Completely irrelevant," Principal Melchior cut in impatiently.

"Do you want me to throw you out the window? If not, please shut up," Marius said coldly, making the old man grimace even more. While he was training to be a fair, diplomatic, and benevolent ruler like his parents, Marius was also know for inheriting his parents' impatient attitude towards others when pushed to the extreme level.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Fairy Godmother said. "I'm only trying to help my new students from the Isle adjust to their new lives in Auradon..."

"I thought he was born in Auradon." Marius frowned.

"I was born in England. Completely different territory," Martin pointed out.

"Gotcha." The prince went back to the original point. "I can see that your all trying to help him adapt at the very most, but try to understand that for some people, it takes a while. Just dropping a bomb on him with the order of doing something he's never done before is not only inconvenient, but overwhelming." He then turned to Hermia. "True, using your name to switch with his is highly unorthodox, but then again, it would be a good way for you to make up your loss at the Pride Showcases."

"Well..." Hermia thought about it. "It is true that my Glaceon has been feeling down ever since we lost to 4th place. I suppose I _could_ let this situation slip and take Martin's place in the Pokemon Pride Contests tomorrow afternoon."

"There's one part settled. And do we have any martial art based or Pokemon battle contests coming up in the Pride Games?"

"Let me think." Nick Fury pulled out his cellphone and tapped a bit before answering. "We have the Pride Games Pokemon League next Friday and the martial arts segment of the Pride Games Tri-Relay at the end of the month." He took a deep breath and faced Martin, who sat up straight in his armchair. "Martin Fiske, if we asked you right now if you could participate in those events, what would you say?"

Martin frowned in thought. The others looked apprehensively and sighed in relief when he nodded.

"Well, problem solved!" Marius clasped his hands together.

"Not quite." Ruby crossed her arms and glared at the man she dated, who was now cringing at the sight of her getting upset. "We have another problem."

Marius groaned and rolled his eyes at Martin. "Tell me you didn't break another rule."

"No, it's worse," Mal said. "He purposely broke his pipes."

Marius and the adults frowned in confusion, making Ronilda roll her eyes in frustration.

"It was back at the karaoke party," Ruby explained. "Martin just came with me to the party to watch since I like that kind of stuff, but when he was forced by the Troll teens to stand on stage and compete in the karaoke, he just stood there and said nothing."

"Enter the part where the Weird Cousins, creepy as they are, say that he purposely had a spell on him to keep himself from singing," Hermia said before pointing at Ronilda, who was crossing her arms and looking away abrasively. " _She_ thinks it's his way of getting back at her for an argument they had."

"Do you ever learn to move on?" Marius narrowed his eyes at Ronilda, who merely shrugged. Exasperated, he went to Martin and put his hand right underneath Martin's chin so that two fingers were pressing the vocal cord area. "Look, it's not comfortable for me either, but try to speak the seven notes. Just speak."

Martin rolled his eyes and spoke calmly and in his normal British voice. "Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti. Happy?"

"Pretty good pulsations," Marius said with a nod. "Now try singing it as best as you can."

Martin gulped and opened his mouth to attempt to do as he was asked, but at every single moment he tried to 'sing' from _do_ to _ti_ , a ghastly choking sound was heard. The more Martin did it, the more he sounded more like a breathless fish out of air rather than a monkey boy trying to sing. Once he was done and began to slouch on his armchair, desperate for air, Ruby quickly went in and out of the kitchen to fetch a glass full of water. Marius removed his hand from Martin's throat and let the guy drink desperately.

"So?" Ben asked.

"He got himself a spell to keep himself from singing," Marius concluded.

"You mean like Ursula's conch shell?" Mal asked.

"I don't think so, Mal." Fairy Godmother shook her head. "If it was, Martin wouldn't be able to talk."

"The spell is a well-maneuvered one," Marius explained. "Usually, when someone can't sing anymore, it usually affects their vocal folds very badly, but after feeling Martin's move, I could tell that it was a spell that could prevent him from singing but let him talk normally."

Ronilda smirked smugly at Martin until the prince added in an extra detail. "However, judging by how the vocal cords were moving, I could tell that they were used to not singing for three years."

"Three years?" Nick Fury gasped.

"Martin, you went on with that spell for three years?" Ruby was shocked.

"Blame _her_." Martin nodded his head at Ronilda, causing everyone to look at her. "She's the reason why I stopped singing. Ever since our breakup, I swore myself I would never do it again and got rid of it."

"Oh, so now it's _my_ fault?" Ronilda snapped.

"If I may point out something, Stoppable, your presence is quite an upsetting trigger of frustration to Fiske here," Principal Melchior said quietly. "After all, from what I've noticed and heard, he never behaved this way until you showed up..."

"Oh, no!" Ronilda snapped and pointed her finger at her principal, shocking those who didn't know Ronilda that well. "You will not start treating me like Sternia! That was unfair!"

"Do you wish to receive her treatment as well?" Melchior asked coldly.

"Bring it!" Ronilda dared. "I can always have my parents bring in reinforcements from the lawyers to the military!"

"She can do that?" Ruby asked Ben.

"Her parents are the financial owners of ten lawyer leagues, a good half of the Navy, the entire Air Force, the Bueno Nacho global security," Ben listed, "99.98% of every single police department in Middleton, Yamanouchi ninja squads, the fashion police, and the only lab in the country with nuclear missiles."

Mal and Ruby gasped at the last part. "You mean she could have her parents nuke us all?" Ruby nearly strangled her boyfriend. "Why the hell did you date her?"

"I already told you! I was tricked by that madwoman!" Martin protested.

"Yeah, well, this _madwoman_ won't hesitate to call her parents if Principal Madman dares to kick her and others like he did with Sternia!" Ronilda began to pull out her phone from her pocket.

" **NO!** " They all screamed and waved their hands in the air.

Melchior gave a bitter snarl and left with a cold huff. "Let's just pretend that this conversation never occurred," he said flatly as he left off.

Nick Fury straightened his jacket. "Well, now that things are cleared up thanks to Prince Marius' sense of diplomacy, let us make our leave," he told Fairy Godmother.

"I'll see you children at class tomorrow," she said quietly. "Have a good evening. And Ronilda, please be careful on how you threaten your elders."

"The guy's a lunatic," the latter said flatly. "Nobody's gonna miss him. Not even Shari and Mr. B like him."

"Can't the school board or even Ben have him fired or replaced?" Marius asked while Fairy Godmother left and some went to get their stuff.

"St Luther is under the supervision of the three mages Gaspard, Balthazar, and Melchior," Hermia explained as she put on her jacket. "They're immortal, but they need to youth-up that immortality, so when one of them gets really old and needs to retire in order to get young again, one of the other two will take his job and so on. So when Gaspard was our fist headmaster twenty-one years ago, he supervised the school until ten years ago. Balthazar took the position while Gaspard went back to being an infant, and now it's Melchior."

"So, if I'm understanding correctly, the other two mages are ten and a few months old respectively?" Marius frowned.

"Pretty much." Ronilda shrugged as she made her way to the door. "By the time it's Melchior's turn, Gaspard will take his place. Hopefully, it will be soon. I can't stand the guy."

"We noticed," Martin grumbled. "Get the hell out of my house."

"Rude much?" Ronilda said.

"Oh, he'll keep being rude until you **get the hell out of here**!" Ruby grabbed a lamp and threw it angrily at Ronilda, who dodged it and made a run for it with Hermia before the lamp could hit her. Seeing that they were reaching the danger zone, Mal and Ben ran off as well.

"Wow." Marius was impressed by the ferocity of Fancy Pants' lady. "I'd better make a run for it before another lamp is smashed. Oh, and thanks again for the tip, Fancy Pants."

"You mean it worked?" Martin dropped his jaw when he saw the smile on Marius. "Epic! You, old chap, just made history!"

"I know," Marius blushed in a smitten tone. "This was the best night EVER! Woo!" He flew his way out of the house and into the dark night, leaving Martin to look at Ruby, who had her arms crossed and her foot tapping. "What?"

"What did you do _now_?" She asked in exasperation.

"Nothing evil this time," he reassured her as he got up from his armchair and followed her up the stairs neighbored by walls decorated with black monkey-patterned walls, framed pictures, and some simian artifact related decorations. "I just gave Marius the one kind of advice that I never thought I'd give. Dating advice."

Ruby gasped and cupped her mouth with her hands. "You mean...He and Penna..." She blushed at the thought. "He managed to _kiss_ her?"

"We've got our answer if they end up making out for the rest of the week," Martin chuckled. "Although, knowing De Mort and her lack of experience, it might take longer."

"Gee, you actually helped Penna?" Ruby giggled in amusement. "That's so sweet of you!"

"Is not!" Martin cried indignantly until he saw Ruby smirking at him. "Well...I mean...You know...I..." He dropped his shoulders in exasperation. "I'm impossible."

Ruby giggled and gave a small pat on his cheek. "Keep being imperfect. It makes you look adorable." She gave him a brief peck on the lips, making the stoic Brit melt from within. "I have to go. I promised Lonnie that I'd go make sure that her Pancham doesn't have an upset tummy before tomorrow."

"Well that explains why Artemis' bamboo plants are constantly chewed down." They chuckled and bid each other goodnight. Ruby left for her domicile while Martin hit the showers. He felt his worries wash down from his back as the hot water hit him. _Problems solved_ , he mentally told himself.

He stepped out of the shower, dried himself up, and went to change into comfortable nightwear in his bedroom until the phone on his nightstand rang with a piercing, simian-like shriek, making Martin grumble. Out of all the ridiculous teenage habits he hated, one that he particularly hated was the one of phone calls keeping you from a good night's sleep.

He picked up the phone. "Fiske on the line, how may I help you?" He asked, trying to hold back his grumbling tone.

" _Great to hear from you, Fiske._ "

Martin clutched onto his phone to the point of crushing it when he recognized the voice. A voice that he recognized out of a million thanks to the tone proving a sign of venomous hatred. " _You_ ," he hissed. "You really _did_ escape the Raft. Stoppable wasn't lying!"

" _Yes, Stoppable avoiding Sleep Powder along with Snape and Fury's brat was unintended_ ," the male voice said. " _Fortunately..._ "

"Just get on with it! What do you want?" Martin snapped.

" _Now, now, Fiske,_ " the male voice said patiently. " _My new master just wants to make sure that you get this message, so pay attention. He wants you to know this._ _First off, you cannot tell anyone about this call_."

"Give me one good reason not to," Martin said coldly.

" _Let's just say that my comrades and I managed to make sure that the Belle Reve formula was...consumed by students from both Auradon Prep and the reformees_ ," the caller snickered on the line. " _I'd spent sleepless nights knowing that I caused my girlfriend's death because I did not do what I was told despite her having unintentionally consumed the formula._ "

"No..." Martin covered his mouth, not wanting to give his old foe to delight of hearing him sob.

" _The formula can be removed, as long as you do the following: don't you dare speak of this to anyone, do not even try to interfere with our plan, and precisely five days after the Tri-Relay of the Pride Games, you will be meeting our master on the Raft at precisely 11:30am in the meeting room #302B._ "

"The Raft?" Martin blinked at the reference of the prison Ronilda had mentioned. "Isn't it a prison?"

" _Just do what you're told and no one gets hurt...yet. Oh, and one last thing before I hang up._ "

"What else could you possibly want from _me_?" Martin asked, heartbrokenly.

" _Personally, I would like your head on a silver platter_." Clearly, the caller was enjoying making Martin suffer. " _But all of this is coming from my master, so it's not up to meet. Anyway, the last thing is...Bring Fa Li Lonnie with your, or he will make sure that, formula or not, Rebecca Martha Kyle's blood will spill in front of your very eyes._ "

 _Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep._

Martin's hand dropped the phone onto the floor and completely ignored it in order to bury himself on his bed sheet and go through a series of wails, sobbing, and crying that forced his poor soul to go to sleep despite his misery.


	23. Nightmares, Contests, and Warnings

Chapter 23: Nightmares, Warnings, and Contests

 _Water was dripping on the metal floor into puddles. Nothing was seen in this hallway made of pipes, leaks, and metal._

 _Lonnie didn't know this place. She had never seen it in her life. So why was she running through it, with Martin pulling her by the arm as if danger awaited them if they didn't hurry._

 _"_ _ **HURRY!**_ _" A boy with an East-European accent was leading them through the darkness of corridors and into a maze of metal catwalks. With his bizarre attire, a wire-covered black jumpsuit and thunderbolt gelled up blue hair, he had the creative physical appearance to be a VK. But Lonnie knew almost every single VK at Auradon Prep ever since the battle in January, so who the hell was this kid?_

 _"_ _ **We're almost at the docks! The sooner you get the hell out of here, the sooner you can warn your friends!**_ _" the boy said._

 _"_ _ **But Alva! What about you?**_ _" Martin asked. He sounded devastated as he asked this. Did he...know this guy?_

 _"_ _ **You have to warn them before he resumes his**_..."

 _A green blast exploded onto the catwalk they were running on, separating Lonnie and Martin from the Alva boy, who disappeared as their surroundings suddenly darkened. Martin screamed in despair the name of Alva and made the mistake of letting go of Lonnie, who suddenly found herself trapped in a green, human-sized cylinder while she was forced to watch a bare-chested Martin struggle from the metal shackles that trapped him on a chair made of silver snakes. Lonnie gasped in horror when she realized how familiar the scenario was to her._

 _Struggling and shackled to a chair in an undesired attire. Lonnie knew that Martin was unlikely to sit or go anywhere bare-chested unless he was swimming or privately alone with Ruby. Not to mention, this just reminded her of when she was forced into a dress and almost turned into a Death Eater Queen..._

 _A shadowy figure came from behind the chair. Lonnie could not see him clearly enough to identify him, but she could perfectly see him lift some sort of dagger crowned with a blade carved to resemble a metallic hand._

 _"_ _ **Welcome to the family**_ _." The figure stabbed Martin right into the mark of villainy, making the boy scream and his mark glow unusually green as if he were using the hand dagger to pick off the dagger like a scab. Martin was screaming loud enough to make Lonnie imagine what it must be like to get his mark literally ripped out of his chest._

SLAP!

"LONNIE!"

Lonnie bolted up from her bed. Kory was looking at her with annoyed eyes marked with the black eye stains and messy hair of classic tiredness while Carmine let out a yawn as it tried to sleep on Kory's bed. With one hand pressed on the mark on her chest, Lonnie sighed in relief to be back in the real world.

"Great crap of Hela, Lonnie, do you know what time it is?" Kory snapped.

The daughter of Mulan blinked and turned to look at the alarm clock resting on her nightstand. "Uh, it's 5am?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, and one of us would like to get a shut eye!" Kory exclaimed before jumping back on her bed and burying her head in her pillow. Carmine moved slightly to cuddle with its owner before yawning and going back to sleep once more, leaving Lonnie to sigh.

When was she ever going to stop having those nightmares? And for crying out loud, what did this new one mean?

Perhaps Martin had the answer.

 _Around 8am_

Lonnie opened the door of her dorm when she heard it knock. Ruby was outside, standing there patiently. "Aren't you coming to watch the cheer off at the tourney field?" Ruby asked.

"I...had a rough night," Lonnie said as she rubbed her forehead. "I think I'll pass in order to catch my strength for the Pride Pokemon Contest this afternoon. After losing in the first round..."

"Got it." Ruby nodded. "Oh, could you keep an eye on Martin?"

"Martin?" Lonnie felt a chill running down her spine as she remembered Martin screaming in her nightmare. "Why?"

"I don't know why, but...he's acting strangely today," Ruby said, her eyes full of concern. "I can't tell if it's because of another Ronilda issue or something else. I mean, he didn't even answer the door when I knocked and he always answers the door, whether it's me or someone else!"

"Eesh." Lonnie made a face. "I'll make sure to keep an eye on him if I can."

"Thanks, cuz." Ruby gave Lonnie a warming hug before making her way out to join the others. While the outside world was busy cheering in the tourney field to all the girls dressed in skimpy outfits and shaking pom-poms, Lonnie made her way out of her room and got herself a coffee from the vending machine (all the VKs had _insisted_ on placing one of these in the hallway in case of desperate beverage needs). Once the hot liquid was in her stomach, she threw her cup in a recycling bin and summoned her Pancham from its Pokeball.

"Come on, Pancham, let's go for a walk," she said. The creature hopped in glee and followed her down the hallway, which felt creepy to Lonnie as it was quiet. Not even the janitor was in sight. It would seem he preferred watching cheerleaders perform than making sure of his own job performance.

"If I were Martin, I'd either be with Ruby, in the gym, or at the library," Lonnie thought out loud. Ruby was currently by herself (or most likely with one of her other friends) and watching the cheer-off outside, which meant that Martin couldn't be there. The gym would be an expecting place, since Martin practiced Tai Shing Pek Kwar whenever he could during his spare time, but thanks to Grinchelda toying with one of Rita Rico's dynamite sticks, the gym was under renovation. Which left the library as the only possibility.

A reasonable possibility, because aside from being labeled as the most dashing, most stoic, and most martial art-based VK in all the Isle, the son of Monkey Fist had the reputation of being an impossible bookworm. Not in the sense of know-it-all, but in the sense of where reading so many books gives you so much tips on how to expect things and whatnot.

Lonnie reached the library. Auradon Prep had a very incredible library, with 100 wooden shelves (it has been counted) filled with books, nearly touching the small ceiling like Roman pillars. Comfortable lounge chairs, computers, the librarian desk, and a sign standing at the entrance occupied a small circular area in the library.

 **Reading for knowledge is good. Please, no loitering, no stealing, no noise, and watch out for curfews.**

Pancham looked up at Lonnie. "Fairy Godmother's got a weird thing for curfews," she shrugged. She looked to the right, where a glass wall separated the library from the sole class that taught VKs only.

Remedial Goodness.

Lonnie remembered what it was like passing by to get a book or study at the library and the new VKs were trying to learn as best as they could on how to be good. In the beginning, it was just Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos with Fairy Godmother giving them multiple choice questions and quizzes. The room was awfully quiet. That class seemed pretty easy for its teacher (from what Lonnie thought), but as the number of students went up from four mere students to now all the high school level descendants from all the worst villains in the Isle, the class was more occupied and more divided. The students were placed in different schedules based either on education level or evil level. Easy homework turned into complicated pop quizzes as a trick to test the students' good levels. While some had no trouble showing that they were now good, others still had trouble proving that they weren't rotten to the core. Even Ruby, who was a reformee who barely spent five months in the Isle of the Lost, had to take the class and she couldn't keep herself on the first month to do a graffiti of a cat on the wall, costing her artwork to be used as an example of how art should be used for expressionism and not vandalism.

Distant tears and sniffing was heard, catching Lonnie's attention. She and her Pancham began to search throughout every corner of the library, but no sign of the sad source was seen.

"Pancham, if you were a monkey boy crying in a library, where's the first place you'd look?" Lonnie knelt down and asked her Pokemon. The latter scratched its head and looked up. It pointed one of its little fingers at one of the windowsills, where Martin was sitting, all curled up in a ball, hugging a book in his arms, and crying to the point where his tears trickled their way down to the library's cold marble floor. Lonnie was rather shocked to see Martin in such a state. Did he get another Dear John letter?

She thought for a bit and noticed the shelf full of European atlases standing right next to her. A brilliant, but stupid idea hit her head, which is probably what happens when you spend too much time with the Hun kids. Without even much more thought, she grabbed an atlas on English moorlands and threw the book straight at Martin. Thanks to his miserable state, he didn't stop the book from hitting him right on the head and making him fall off his seat. He landed butt first on the floor.

" **MAHAAN HANUMAAN! TUMHAARE SAATH KYA HUA, AURAT?** " He exclaimed as he got up and rubbed his sore sides.

"I don't speak monkey-cult," Lonnie said flatly.

"It is not monkey-cult but Hindi," Martin said in proper English, although now Lonnie could hear that Hindi accent that everyone claimed he had never he got angry. "And in proper English, it means **GREAT HANUMAN! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN?** "

Pancham jumped and put a shushing finger on Martin's mouth. "We're in a library," Lonnie pointed out quietly.

"What do you want?" Martin demanded as he got the Pancham away from him and forced him back onto Lonnie, who held her Pokemon tightly in her arms as it wished to go back and punch the British VK.

"We need to talk about something..."

Martin suddenly began to pale up. "I have nothing to talk about." He stiffly tried to walk away. "Besides, don't you have a contest to worry about this afternoon?"

"Wait." Lonnie held her arm out in order to block his way. "It's really important...OW!"

Lonnie yelped after Martin grabbed her wrist and deepened his grip. His claws sank into her skin, making her bite her lip and hold onto her Pancham as if it were a teddy bear rather than a living creature.

"Look, Lonnie, I'm already having issues of my own and I don't need yours to add more salt and vinegar into it!" He let her go. She let go of her Pancham in order to tend to her pained wrist. The pain didn't last any longer than Martin did in the library, but what stunned Lonnie was that, instead of scars, she found Chinese characters printed on her skin like a note made of red bloody stains.

"Pancham, grab the nearest pen and paper and mark this down!" Lonnie exclaimed.

 _Later, at the stadium where the Bake-off took place_

Lonnie tied up her hair in a bun with a blue magnolia hair clip while she and the rest of the female coordinators prepared themselves and their Pokemon in the locker room while the male coordinators were doing the same in their own. Noises of the cheering crowd from the stadium just above them were ringing in her ears.

"I still can't believe that we lost to the St Luther cheerleaders," Lonnie heard Minuit grumble while the latter was tying up the last straps of her dress. "Using Grinchelda's puppy and having it run around the field in a roadrunner uniform..."

"Smart, I'll give them that." Evie nodded.

"Chin up," Hermia said in a tone of sincere modesty. "Maybe you guys will get a chance to get back at us. After all, there are only four of us from St Luther competing in the Pride Pokemon Contest. You guys have a good chance of beating us."

"Yeah, but you guys have Gladiola and not only did she beat us at the Pride Showcases, but she even managed to beat Melody, who was a _gym leader_!" Minuit sat on the bench in despair. "Good thing that Penna isn't here to see me fail..."

"Wait, Penna's not going to be in the bleachers?" Lonnie asked Feige. "She's not even going to see Marius, who managed to convince Fairy Godmother and Ben to let him participate _just for the experience_?" She said those last words in a skeptical fashion because, despite knowing how much of a sweetheart the prince of the Fae Realm was towards Penna, she still remembered his arrogant pride back at the welcoming dinner, and based on her personal experience with non-human princes with charismatic attributes, she knew that he had a silver tongue. And Penna, despite her reputation, seemed to be affected by his charming words easier than a puppy reacts when given a treat. Lonnie easily bet to herself that if Marius had tried wooing Penna six months ago the same way he did today, he wouldn't have had as much success as he already does.

"She felt unusually tired, so she's staying in her house," Feige explained. "Fortunately, Jessie will be in the bleachers recording the whole thing on camera."

" _Ladies and gentlemen!_ " Charles' voice was heard speaking through every single speaker in the stadium. " _Welcome to the Pride Pokemon Contests, where we will discover who is this year's Pride Coordinator!_ "

Lonnie checked her arm. The words that Martin had carved with his own nails were now on the verge of scarring, yet they were still visible. Fortunately, her cherry blossom colored mandarin dress came with long sleeves to cover it up.

" _The rules go like this_ ," Leidi's voice said. " _Until we reach the semi-finals, each coordinator must use only one Pokemon to show off. To get to the semi-finals, you need to show us all your Pokemon's talents at their best. The more points you get, the more you are likely to move on. Good luck!_ "

" _And it looks like our first round is a clash of royalty! King Ben of Auradon himself against the ambassador of the Fae Realm himself, Prince Marius Bogfae!"_

The girls watched the battle from the TV in the locker room. The stadium's field had been intentionally renovated into an natural green prairie with colorful flowers planted to form the logo of the Pride Games while the two coordinators stood on opposite sides of the field.

"Pyroar, release your inner beast!" Ben threw his Pokeball in the air. A vortex of fire rings came out and the Pokemon jumped its way through the rings like a lion in a circus.

"Unleash your magic!" Marius threw his own Pokeball in the air. Glowing petals of Night Violets exploded like fireworks as the Pokemon spun its way out like perfect ballet. But it looked so different from the one they had seen before. This Pokemon was five feet tall (close to its trainer's height) and its entire body looked like a living thicket of green thorn branches that perfectly outlined muscles. Its breastplate and shoulder plates strangely looked like they were made of purple petals, but with the lights shining on it, it almost looked like purple-painted metal. Its head was round and clear as a purple marble and was decorated with three green horns fashioned like a crown.

"Odd, I feel like I've seen this one before..." Minuit scratched her chin. Just to her luck, the speakers gave the Pokedex answer.

' _ **Violthorn, the Violent Thorn Pokemon and the evolved form of Niviol. Violthorn's armored body and sharp thorns act as protection from any form of attack that Violthorn would see as fatally dangerous. Some Fae Realm legends claim that Violthorn has such an armor shielding its heart.**_ '

" _AMAZING_!" Charles exclaimed. " _Prince Marius' Niviol has evolved, and if we can recall the last time we saw it as a Niviol, we know that Fire-types won't let it give up easily_!"

"And judging by that armor and physique increase, I wouldn't be surprised if Violthorn knew some Fighting-type techniques," Feige said in contempt.

"Alright, Pyroar!" Ben ordered. "Use Fire Blast!"

The Pokemon obeyed and spit a large blast of fire right at Violthorn like a horizontal volcano eruption.

"Violthorn, use Lunar Mirror!"

Violthorn's breastplate and shoulder plates shone in bright purple lights, creating a floating lunar orb that flew right at the Fire Blast and reflected it back at Pyroar. The latter howled in burning pain.

"Pyroar!" Ben gasped.

" _And that's a few points down for our king and 4.5 minutes are left on the clock. It looks like our royal visitor is taking the lead!_ "

"Wow," Hermia gasped. "Did you see that Lunar Mirror? It almost looks like Niviol's Lunar Razor, but since Violthorn is the evolved form of Niviol, Lunar Razor must have turned into a more powerful move like Lunar Mirror!"

The battle continued. While the two royals and their Pokemon showed the best of the creatures, Violthorn clearly took the lead with its superior moves of Oberon Seeds and Lunar Razor. Finally, just as the timer went off, Pyroar collapsed.

" _Timer's out and so is Pyroar!_ _Violthorn wins! Which means that Prince Marius moves on to the next round!_ "

"Poor Ben," Evie said.

Lonnie looked at the screen and clenched her fists to herself. _If I have to face Marius during any of the following rounds, I'll have to beat him,_ she thought to herself. That wasn't an option.

Winning the Pride Pokemon Contests was her only ticket to get her word with Martin.

The contest went on. Othello Traviesa's Chatot managed to beat Caron Du Parfum's Aromatisse, Hermia sighed after her Glaceon lost to Evie's Beautifly, and the crowd went wild as the Pride Queen Gladiola Trollkonge and her Gardevoir defeated Conan Ulysses from St Luther and his Noctowl. Dårlig and Feige had it the hardest. The mere idea of having to face of your own lover and the result? Both of them quit. Even Leidi and Charles thought it was lame. Now it meant that whoever had the lowest score would be eliminated with the loser of Lonnie and Minuit's confrontation.

"No hard feelings, Minuit?" Lonnie shouted from across the field. _At least I have_ one _advantage_ , she thought as Minuit brought out her Espeon.

"Nah," Minuit shrugged.

"OK." Lonnie took a deep breath and summoned her Pancham, who emerged from its Pokemon with martial arts move to try to make itself look tough.

" _The hero of the world and the alicorn cheerleader slash ex-evil lackey are ready to begin_!" Charles shouted through the speakers. The two trainers grimaced at the lame names.

"Use Psybeam!" Minuit ordered. Her Pokemon went into action and spit its move right at Pancham.

"Dodge!"

Pancham obeyed and did a perfect judo flip that spared it from getting hit.

"Attract!"

Pancham turned its head towards Espeon and winked at it. Pink hearts popped and slithered their way towards Espeon, who instantly became too lovesick to protect itself from the series of Arm Thrusts that Pancham gave it until Espeon finally collapsed after Pancham hit it right in the kiwis.

" _Pancham wins with girl power and moves on!_ "

The crowd cheered for Lonnie, who ended up making it to the top four since Othello and his Chatot got eliminated for having the lowest score. The semi-finals were coming up, which meant that Lonnie would have to defeat Evie in the semi-finals in order to beat whoever won the confrontation of Gladiola and Marius.

Now that they were in the semi-finals, the coordinators could use a maximum of three Pokemon. Lonnie had her Pancham freshen up a bit in the hallway before her upcoming challenge when her boyfriend came in with two Pokeballs in hand.

"I made sure that Aegilash and Eevee were taken good care off," Artemis said as he gently placed the Pokeballs in Lonnie's hands, making her feel the usual tingles she got around her boyfriend. These two Pokemon were ones that she recently got, Aegilash actually belonging to Artemis but was borrowed by Lonnie since she needed three Pokemon for the event, and Eevee actually being a gift from Artemis during their first Valentine's day together.

Lonnie grimaced a bit. She hoped that she would only have to use one or two Pokemon during the semi-final in order to win and go to the final, where she'd repeat the process. Winning first place was essential and Eevee wasn't as powerful as Aegilash or as brave as Pancham. Heck, Eevee was a hopeless wimp.

Artemis, being the empath he was, grabbed Lonnie by the wrist and pulled up her sleeve, revealing her scarred message. Judging by how much attention he paid to it, Lonnie deduced that he could read Chinese characters.

 **I CANNOT TALK ABOUT IT, BUT I WAS BLACKMAILED. RUBY'S LIFE IS ON LINE. YOU CANNOT TELL ANYONE, BUT EVERYONE IN AURADON PREP AND ST LUTHER IS THREATENED BY THE BELLE REVE FORMULA. IF YOU CAN WIN YOUR LAST EVENT, I WILL LISTEN TO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO TELL ME.**

 **P.S: THE ONE WHO BLACKMAILED ME WANTS ME TO BRING YOU SOMEWHERE AT SOME TIME FIVE DAYS AFTER THE PRIDE GAMES TRI-RELAY.**

The alicorn prince gave a severe scowl and waved his hand over the scarred message, relieving Lonnie of her minor injury.

"Artemis..." She began.

"There will be no discussion other than the one that I will be having with you after the event," he said crossly. "Just do your best in the event."

"But Artemis..."

"I SAID THERE WILL BE NO DISCUSSION!" Artemis angrily shouted at her before storming down the hallway, leaving Lonnie to start crying until her Pancham gave her dress' skirt a nudging pull. "You're right." She dried her tears. "I'll deal with Artemis later. Right now, I have a semi-final to win."

 _Minutes later_

Note to Lonnie: _never_ agree to take part in a Pokemon Contest, whether it was required or not.

First, Aegilash barely stood a few minutes against Evie's Emolga, who was no physical match for Pancham, who ended getting KO at the same time than Beautifly.

Now they were down to their last Pokemon, both of them being an Eevee. Lonnie cracked her knuckles.

"Use Swift!"

Her Eevee jumped in the air and swung a series of golden stars at Evie's Eevee, who ended up blocking it with its Iron Tail.

"Use Swift as well!"

The second Eevee copied the first. It seemed like an endless battle. None of the Eevee seemed to give up and the score between the two trainers was still even...

"HOLD EVERYTHING!"

The contest stopped. The crowd stopped cheering at the competitors and gasped when they saw Radiance Nightmare, Fletcher, and some guards running into the field, waving their arms to order the event to cease.

"What on earth is going on?" Ben asked as he stepped out of the royal platform in order to join the killjoys.

"It's my cousin," Radiance said rapidly. "He...he was attacked!"

To that, Lonnie felt like her world was shattering.

 _Later on in the afternoon, at Artemis Nightmare's house_

Despite being in the middle of the semi-finals, the Pride Pokemon Contests had to be cancelled in order to get medical attention to the son of Nightmare Moon, who was found knocked out cold in the parking lot of the stadium and with a ghastly bump on his helmet. He was brought back to Auradon Prep, where Merlin, Dia Nathos, Kaly Astéria, and Artemis' foster mothers, Celestia and Luna of Equestria (the latters had rushed to Auradon when they learned of the accident) healed him and put the alicorn prince on his bed, shielded by a shining blue barrier of magic.

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" Lonnie asked nervously as the magical experts ensured the safety of the shield.

" _He'll live and remember, but thanks to that hit on the head, he's due for one heck of a coma_ ," Dia said. " _And judging by how clotted his blood was in the area he got hit, we could tell he got hit at least an hour and a half before Radiance and the others came in screaming on the field._ "

"An hour and a half?" Lonnie's eyes widened. "That must have been like ten minutes before he was screaming at me!"

" _Scream_ at you?" Luna frowned. "My sister and I may have fostered the son of my evil counterpart for only a few months, but never have we heard him raise his voice or even shout whenever you were a conversation topic. He's cool and composed."

Lonnie rubbed her chin in thought. This couldn't be just a mere coincidence of nature: her 'boyfriend' screaming at her and getting hit on the head right on the same afternoon of the day she had another weird dream...And to think...

"I need to have a word with someone." She ran out of Artemis' house and as fast as she could towards the school cafeteria, which was full of students dining and gossiping about the ruined event. Her fist landed right on the table where Martin was having dinner with Camillo Leon, the son of Camille Leon.

"You and I need a word!" She snapped at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Martin said flatly as he drank his Earl Grey tea. The cold glare that he gave her, telling her to not even think about telling everyone about their conversation back in the library, made her snap.

"OK, then maybe _Alva_ knows!"

She hit the jackpot. As soon as the name 'Alva' hit his ears, Martin spit his entire sip of tea onto a passing Karl and his poor unfortunate spinach puffs. He got him and tried to strangle Lonnie until Gilliard and Camillo Leon grabbed him and pulled him back on his seat. "How in Yono do you know Alva? WHO TOLD YOU?" He demanded.

"Easy there, Monkey Boy! Easy!" Gilliard said. Martin grunted and grabbed his stuff, storming his way out of the cafeteria to the point where he didn't Ruby passing by him and giving a concerned glance at him before going to the original table. "What just happened?"

"Your other cousin pressed his button." Gilliard pointed at Lonnie before going back to his veggie spring roll.

"What?" Lonnie said in defense as she sat down next to them. "I only asked him about Alva..."

"Who's Alva?" Ruby suddenly frowned.

"Relax, Rubes," Gilliard reassured the former. "It's Monkey Boy's old best friend."

"I thought _you_ were his best friend," Camillo frowned.

"I am, but back in the day when Monkey Boy was, you know, _rogue_ , he had a partner and best friend that was the closest thing to a peer acquaintance that he ever had."

"Just so I know," Lonnie quickly interrupted, "was he wearing a black jumpsuit covered with wires and was his blue hair gelled up to look like a thunderbolt?"

Gilliard almost choked his food. "You know him?"

"No, I just had another weird dream that I don't want to talk about right now," Lonnie said. "But about Alva?"

"Right. Monkey Boy told me that he and Alva were very close friends and partners-in-crime. Sometime between Martin's breakup with Ronilda and his incarceration on the Isle, the two worked together for personal schemes that not even their parents knew about. But one particular day about a year and a half ago, maybe just a few months before getting incarcerated, Martin and Alva broke into a warehouse occupied by a gang led by Martin's worst foe in order to get a reverse polarizer and monkey Buddha idol that Alva and Martin respectively wanted. The problem was that it was a trick set up by Martin's foes to finally get his hide, and he ended up outfoxing them and caused an explosion that got rid of them. He and Alva tried to make a run for it, but just as the ceiling's beams were about to fall on Martin, Alva pushed him out of the way and..."

He did not continue the sentence, but the end seemed pretty obvious.

"Alva died," Ruby said quietly.

"Yep. Martin was completely devastated since the guy was the only real friend he had outside of his family while everybody else wanted him dead. Seriously, it took Martin _weeks_ to finally accept me or anyone as his friends, because from his perspective, any friend he makes is the next Alva." Gilliard sighed and slouched on his seat.

"Pity," Camillo said genuinely. "And here I thought that Fiske was a natural anti-social person."

"Just do me a favor, _all of you_." Gilliard pointed at Lonnie, Ruby, and Camillo. "Don't tell him that I told you about Alva. Otherwise, I'll end up joining the dead guy."

Lonnie tried to put the pieces together. This Alva friend of Martin was confirmed dead from what she just heard so far. But if this was the case, then what was up with the dream? Why did she dream of Alva, in the flesh and blood, telling her and Martin to hurry while they were running out of a place that Lonnie didn't even know? If this wasn't disturbing enough, the part of the dream that freaked her the most was the one where she was watching Martin strapped to a chair, bare chest, and getting stabbed on the mark of villainy by a dagger with a hand-shaped blade.

"Yo, I just found out something!"

The four teens, along with the rest of the cafeteria, stopped their activities to see Sparrowfire Grayson, Noir's frustrating jock cousin, stand up on one of the tables and shout. "I just found out who ruined the Pride Pokemon Contest!"

"If you dare accuse Penna..." Minuit warned from the cheerleaders' table.

"Who said anything about De Mort? Knowing that her sweetheart was in the event and that she wanted to play 'Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes', she wouldn't hit a foe like Artemis Nightmare on the head! No, it could have only been done by one guy! Espejismo Mirage!"

All the reformees in the cafeteria gasped and soon turned into a tone of whispers, disgusted comments, and other signs of disapproval.

"Espe-what now?" Lonnie frowned.

To answer her question, Sparrowfire clapped his hands in rhythm until all the reformees in the cafeteria clapped their hands in a rhythm that sounded like a military march. Rookie Skipper pulled out his Spanish guitar and played a fitting tune as Sparrowfire walked through the rows of rhythm.

Sparrowfire: _Espejismo Mirage, the world's greatest gold digger._

Rookie: _A name literally meaning 'mirage'._

Sparrowfire: _He's like a silver devil that would have you for dinner._

 _He's got the hair of a silver medal and the eyes of a jade_

 _That fool you until you realize too late that you were played._

 _It's a bitter story for us, you see,_

 _Since the devil that is Espejismo was like us a reformee._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the charming gold-digger._

Rookie: _His hunger for fame and fortune just keeps getting better._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the seductive Casanova._

Sparrowfire: _It's a shame we realized too late on how he was such a cobra._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the heartbreaking prince._

All: _We all now hate you for what you did ever since._

Rookie: _Just to make it clear, he wasn't bad from the start._

 _He was a student back at St Luther and quite a piece of art._

 _During the last Pride Games, he was top Coordinator._

 _The ladies just adored him, but as we guys discovered later,_

 _The guy wanted more than just live to the family name,_

 _Which is why he wanted bigger cash and fame!_

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the charming gold-digger._

Rookie: _His hunger for fame and fortune just keeps getting better._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the seductive Casanova._

Sparrowfire: _It's a shame we realized too late on how he was such a cobra._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the heartbreaking prince._

All: _We all now hate you for what you did ever since._

Jonathan Sparrow joined in as well.

Jonathan: _Avast ye, cause this is what he did next._

 _He set his eyes on the biggest treasure chest._

 _As ye all know, Ronilda Stoppable is quite the rich lass_

 _With a family fortune five times bigger_

 _Than those of any other crewmember of first class._

 _Our silver devil flashed his deadlights_

 _When he realized that he hit the jackpot._

 _Since the two families were well connected, he thought he had the right_

 _To woo the lass and get her rich chest through wedlock._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the charming gold-digger._

Sparrowfire: _But his plan went down the river._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the seductive Casanova._

Rookie: _Because Stoppable just got the scorned women's diploma._

 _Rumor went on for a week's remainder,_

 _That she fell for a tall, dark, dashing stranger_

 _Who was obviously skilled and dashing for danger._

 _She was completely enamored by the bad boy's nature._

Jonathan: _But when he ended up finding out who she was,_

 _The bad boy instantly rejected the poor lass,_

 _Leaving her and her heart as shattered as glass_

 _While her tears watered the grass._

Female Reformees: _Espejismo Mirage, the heartbreaking prince._

Sparrowfire: _Her broken heart has thus rejected other men ever since,_

 _Because despite the bastard departing_

 _She still couldn't stop loving him._

Rookie and Jonathan: _Talk about a problem._

 _But it was still kinda awesome._

 _Because now Espejismo couldn't reach the poor soul._

 _Furious that someone thwarted his goal,_

 _He lost all his control,_

 _And decided to go live a criminal life as black as coal._

 _He betrayed us, the criminal, and got arrested, because_

 _That is the story of Espejismo Mirage._

All: _Espejismo Mirage, the charming gold-digger._

 _His hunger for fame and fortune just keeps getting better._

 _Espejismo Mirage, the seductive Casanova._

 _It's a shame we realized too late on how he was such a cobra._

 _Espejismo Mirage, the heartbreaking prince._

 _We all now hate you for what you did ever since._

"So...this Espejismo guy was a _bad reformee_?" Gilliard asked as everyone settled down.

"And he was after Stoppable's fortune?" Camillo said in awe. "That's even more intense than my own mom!"

"Aye, mate," Jonathan sighed as he took his tray full of dishes and prepared to dispose of it. "Many young lasses like some of us at St Luther have been desperate to get even a quarter of Stoppable's insane inheritance. Problem is, with that episode she had with Fiske, she won't even let a guy flirt with her unless he wants to see his head in a toilet.

"Also, he's been obsessed with getting famous outside of his family's name." He turned to Lonnie. "Espejismo won the title of Top Coordinator during the last Pride Games. I wouldn't be surprised if he smacked your boyfriend on the head in order to weaken the competition. But then again, you guys probably already know him."

"What do you mean?" Gilliard frowned.

"Don't be stupid." Sparrowfire scoffed. "Espejismo was arrested like three years ago. You guys _had_ to meet him back on the Isle."

"Sorry, pal, but every villain knows one another on the Isle and we got nobody named Espejismo." Gilliard drank from his seaweed smoothie.

"Besides, he couldn't be there," Ruby pointed out. "A Villainous Council's kid once told me that in agreement to be locked up, Auradon wouldn't ship them any reformees because of the entire feud thing." She shivered at the memory. "Seriously, if anyone on the Isle had discovered before I did back in the Everfree Sector that I was the hybrid kid of a villain and hero, I'd be slaughtered to death."

Now it was Jonathan and Sparrowfire's turn to look creeped out that even the latter hugged himself in a troubled, fetal position. "So, what you're saying is," Jonathan said to double ensure what he heard, "that I could have been...murdered back there?" Let's not forget that Jonathan Sparrow was among the few reformees from St Luther who got kidnapped by Minuit and Jessie as bait to lure Ronilda and her distant cousins from Yves' side into Penna's lair and kill them. So the mere idea that he could have been killed outside the battle...

Ruby gave him a silent nod. "I see," he said meekly.

"Look on the positive side," Camillo said optimistically. "Aside from petty arguments with the other VKs, you won't have to worry about getting murdered just because of genetics."

 _Meanwhile, in a dark underwater laboratory_

The figure who both broke into the Potions Chemistry lab in Dragon Hall and splashed a couple with her invisible submarine was downloading the final touches of her serum before transferring them into the glass compartment boiling the chemical substance.

" _Ten liters of Tiger Breath mixed in with blood serums taken from both our inmates and the Dragon Hall, along with some fragments of the Belle Reve Formula,_ " the figure snickered to herself as the automatic doors of her lab unlocked to the false DNA key of her male accomplice. He silently walked into the lab right as the mad scientist transferred her new grey substance into a cylindrical container the size of a baseball glove. She held it in her hands and triumphantly showed it to her partner. " _We now have the perfect brainwashing factor for the master's plans!_ "

"Excellent! Auradon will be on its knees before they know what the master hit them with!" The male figure clasped his hands together as he spoke in his thick German accent. "In the meantime, I will make sure that things go perfectly until the Tri-Relay comes." He unsheathed a silver sword and threw it at the face of a wanted poster criminal. "My old nemesis will finally come to understand what it means to mess with me!"

The two of them cackled as the electric lights of the lab flashed upon the words of the poster.

 **WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE**

 **MARTIN MONTGOMERY FISKE**

 **CHARGED FOR THE CRIMES OF**

 **MURDER, THEFT, AND CONQUER CONSPIRACY.**

 **$500000 OFFERED FOR HIS CAPTURE**


	24. Slow Transformations and Surprise Visits

Chapter 24: Slow Transformations and Surprise Visits

Penna didn't understand why she woke up feeling more sore than usual in like six different areas of her body when she woke up. It already bugged her when she was in her waking process but now it was trying to murder her when she stretched and yawned. Normally, she was used to feeling pain after going to sleep, but this was back in the day when she still had her wings.

She rubbed her tired eyes and checked the clock and calendar decorating the right side of her bed. "Great," she said miserably, "I missed the events. Marius will be angry at me."

Thinking about what happened between her and Marius made her sigh dreamily as she picked her outfit through her closet. Flying with him and him confessing that he loved her before he started kissing her...It felt like her heart was a hourglass, but instead of the sand pouring downward, it levitated upward as if to fill up the empty upper part with a full feeling of emotions. Her tongue went over her lips at the memory of his rough lips' sugary tree sap flavor and his gallant hands caressing her where she normally would have let no other man touch in the past.

She finally settled for a light teal wrap neck blouse, straight black pants, and chocolate brown high heel boots. After waiting for a few minutes, she noticed that her metabolism didn't seem to react by trying to turn her clothing into the dark kind the evil Penna would wear. It seemed odd, but if this was just part of what Marius described as 'moving on from her past', then it gave Penna a good reason to ignore it.

"Behave while I'm gone, Naga," she called out before making her way out of her house and not noticing her snake hissing in shock at something. Penna hummed to herself as she walked with tranquility through Malevia Village and towards the main building without even realizing that she was walking unusually fast. Some passing students looked like they were just thrown a pile of snow in the middle of spring. Her skin made her unusually inch and caused her to scratch her wrists as she climbed up the stairs and accidently bumped onto two doorways before finally making it to the cafeteria. "OK, did they change the architecture yesterday or what?"

The fact that the cafeteria was completely silent was what got her attention and saw that everyone present was staring at her with wide eyes and dropped jaws. "Uh, hi?" she asked sheepishly.

"OH MY GOSH!" Audrey dropped the tray full of waffles and juice that she was holding when she saw Penna. "Penna, what on earth happened to you?"

"Do I have a pimple?" Penna moved her fingers over her face to catch any signs of puberty monstrosities. None were in sight.

"Uh, De Mort?" Shari, who was one of the teacher chaperones, gulped. "Did you get...taller and... stranger?"

"Look, I know I have purple skin and big ears, but still..."

"Cheese and crackers, just look at yourself!" Karl Pepikrankenitz shoved all the sweet rolls off his silver tray and held it in front of Penna as a mirror. The girl screamed so loudly that all the glass windows broke when she saw that her height had increased by inches (both physical and the fact that her high heels were literally made of actual stiletto). Her own legs seemed to have changed with curvier volumes as well as height.

"WHAT THE HELL?" she screamed and ended up scratching herself even further on the wrist, which caused her to realize that her skin itched because it had its old snakeskin texture. The same texture back when she was... The idea crushed her sanity.

"I'M TURNING BAD AGAIN!" She freaked out.

"Penna, calm down!" Ben and the others rushed in to calm her down, only to step back when her panicked, waving hands suddenly grew sharp nails. "Whoah!"

Her blouse and pants began to glow in an ominous teal smoke that finally dissolved, revealing her nice clothes to have dramatically changed into a sinister black dressage coat with teal patterns of snakes suffocating preys in their coils and skinny rosy pink jeans that gave away the dressed person's leg curves. "Great," Penna mumbled. "I look exactly like I did back in the sixties. Well, minus the wings, but WHY AM I CHANGING?"

"Puberty, maybe?" Mal offered, only to drop it when she saw Penna glaring at her in the 'Seriously' fashion.

"Great rolls of Trollstice!" Dårlig gasped when he and Feige came in and saw Penna in her state. "Boss, what on earth happened to your back?"

"My... back?" Penna turned to look at her minions, inadvertently causing others to scream when they saw her back. Dusk quickly took a shot on her phone and showed the image to Penna, who screamed at the sight of the picture. It was her mark of villainy, fading from her skin because of the position of six patches of dried bloodstains over the areas of six of her Kraken Acupuncture Needles. The stains looked even more horrifying since, not only was the dressage coat backless for everyone to see them, but the stains looked like they were waning their way around her skin like mushroom roots in the slow process of waning.

"Alright, people, let's take it easy," Mr. Barkin said. He snapped his fingers. "Ohana, get over here!" The crowd of curious, frightened students made way to Expertina Ohana, the daughter of Stitch and Angel who was very helpful back in January. Without even having to hear from Barkin, she took a quick sniff at the bloodstains wrinkled her nose, and spoke in quick Hawaiian.

"She says that six of the fourteen Kraken Needles on De Mort's back were removed with prudence," Paena Maui translated.

"So that's good?" Ben asked with a tone of hope.

Expertina continued to talk in Hawaiian.

"Nope," Paena translated. "Expertina says that the bloodstains on the areas of the missing needles are actually venom. Venom from...Voldemort."

Gasps were heard everywhere. Penna widened her eyes in horror. "Voldemort...His own blood is what ended up killing my mother."

"If I get what Expertina is saying and what I understood about your entire life problem, is that your old man managed to add a little trick to the Kraken Needles. When you crush a Horcrux to save a dying soul that's not yours, your act of selflessness makes the removal of the needle matching the Horcrux harmless, but if you or somebody else manage to force a needle out without even trading a soul, the poison is unleashed and can threaten to weaken you enough for somebody to stab you like a dead pig on the market. Unless, of course, you..." Paena gulped. "You kill someone to make up for your missing needle, but that would just land you with another Horcrux."

Penna cupped her mouth and cried while Feige patted her on the shoulder for comfort.

"But...How is it that she's missing six needles in the first place?" Ben asked. He got his answer when Expertina said something and Paena, Maja Jookiba, Keptana Gantu, and Ronilda from St Luther gasped in shock.

"She says that _your boyfriend'_ s scent was the last one other than yours that your body had when the stains grew on you!" Maja exclaimed.

 _An hour later, in Fairy Godmother's office_

"We really need to stop holding so many meetings," Fairy Godmother sighed as the door opened and in came Marius. "Your Highness, do come in."

"Wait outside," the prince whispered to somebody standing outside before he came in and saw Penna looking at him bitterly. He chewed his lips, mostly from the first glare of bitter anger she ever gave him and not that she was getting a new pinch of demonic in her appearance.

"I believe you owe me an explanation for _this_!" Penna turned her back at him, revealing the sight of her poor back before looking at him again. "Is this how you Fae Realm folks kiss people you 'like'? By removing them splinters that are ticking bombs?"

"Penna," Fairy Godmother gave Penna a silent gesture to calm down before speaking to her sovereign. "Your Highness, we just wish a good explanation for your act because, while it does finally give King Ben and the medics the solution to getting the needles out of her without having to crush a Horcrux, it has a poisonous side effect that threatens her to death unless she kills."

"What?" The prince widened his eyes and immediately pulled out a manuscript to a certain page with a royal bookmark. "That can't be! I searched through the entire chapter!"

" _Wait a minute_ ," Penna snarled. She snatched the book from his startled hands and saw for herself the page describing the Kraken Acupuncture Needles' function and removal before looking angrily at Fairy Godmother. "All this time, I was suffering from numerous attempt from Auradon's so-called 'best medics' to help me get the parasitic needles off my back, but turns out that it was _in a book_ **IN THE FAE REALM**?"

"I didn't know!" Fairy Godmother looked at Marius. "Your Highness, I thought your parents were against you learning from the magical texts from the court!"

"Spare me the morality listen, I thought your human 'friends' were the ones who put the needles on her in the first place, so I had Kit and Junk make a messenger 'borrow' one of the books for me," Marius retorted. Their argument stopped when they heard Penna gasping at a sentence of one of the paragraphs she read in the chapter.

"' _Therefore, if the host were to be given a kiss of pure romance or any sort of physical touch of sincere affection, the skin tissue where the Kraken Needles are planted will soften and the affection-bringer can carefully pull out the needles one at a time._ '" Her jaw dropped and her eyes unusually sparkled when she looked up at Marius in realization. "So, that means you..."

Fairy Godmother smiled to herself. Marius held Penna's hand in his and kissed it, causing her to blush so much that she had to let go of the book in order to hold her warm cheek in her hand. "I never lied about my feelings for you, Penna," he said genuinely.

"Oh, Marius..." She sighed before suddenly squeezing his hand tightly, making him grit his teeth in pain. "I swear on the River Styx that, even though I'm touched by your desire to show me affection by getting my needles off, I'll personally make sure that the next time you dare to not ask me in advance before pulling them, you'll have a broken arm at your coronation."

"Message taken..." He whimpered in a raspy voice and rubbed his pained hand once Penna let go, at the same time not holding back the fact that the strength she put into nearly squeezing his hand bones into pieces. Even some areas of his exoskeleton seemed cracked.

A loud chuckle came from outside the office and the doors opened for a girl laughing her way in. She was approximately 4 feet tall, which was like one foot and six inches less than Penna and two feet less than Marius when the latter stood straight. Her physical body was a mix of average proportions that still had a hint of beauty and elegance. Despite the very flawless peach skin, baby blue eyes, blue tank top made of petals, and the human-sized wings of a _Speyeria zerene_ butterfly that gave her a feminine appeal, she also had homely brown pants and warrior boots, four fingers per hand, blonde pixie cut hair with black streaks, elfish ears, and the silver breastplate and shoulder plate that some of Marius' fairy guards wore. A sword rested near her waist.

In a way, from Penna's perspective, it was like seeing a girly girl dress up like a Hun girl.

"Princess Daylight!" Fairy Godmother got up and bowed before the fairy. "What an unexpected visit!"

"Thought I'd see my cousin and Auradon before Soon-To-Be-King comes back to the crib," Daylight said casually. She and Marius shared a fist-bump until she spotted Penna and her eyes widened. "Oberon's horns, that's your girl, Mare?"

"Daylight!" Marius blushed in embarrassment.

" _Mare_?" Penna snorted in amusement at the prince. "I never knew I was dating a female stallion."

"I know, right?" Daylight laughed with Penna while Marius grumbled at the girls getting amused with his misfortune. "That's what happens when you accidently fall during flying training in squirrel poop used as fertilizer. Since Marius landed in what we call the fertilizer ' _squirrel mare_ '..."

She didn't need to finish the sentence. All the females, including Fairy Godmother, went in a laughing fit.

 _Later, during the class break_

"Hey, Mal?" Jessie went over to Mal and her friends while the daughter of Maleficent was collecting stuff in her locker during the break in between classes. "Have you seen Penna?"

"Well, she was in Chemistry class earlier today," Evie said, to which Mal nodded. "Why?"

"I don't know..." Jessie slouched on the nearest locker, crossed her arms, and pouted. "Minuit and I hardly ever see her ever since she started going with her _Prince Charming_..." She said the last two words with such venom.

"Jessie, are you...being _jealous_ of Penna's relationship with Marius Bogfae?" Mal arched an eyebrow.

"Hello, I starting to act like Bayen when I joined Penna's evil merry men: I'm jealous, I'm starting to wish that she'd kick out this guy who's nowhere close to like us, I don't see what she sees in him! What if she abandons me and Minuit?" Jessie sank herself to the ground and cuddled herself.

"OK, you're going paranoid for nothing." Mal knelt down and rubbed Jessie on the shoulder. "Penna's not going to _abandon_ you just for some guy in a regal crown."

"Besides, if she wanted to dump you and Minuit for a prince, don't you think she would have done it already?" Carlos pointed out.

"Good point." Jessie shrugged.

"Well, let's just hope that he doesn't plan on jumping into the MMP..." Jane said nervously.

"Mystical Monkey Power?" Carlos asked his girlfriend.

"No. Martial Mating Procedure," Jane said.

Before Jessie could jump and demand questions out of Jane, Mal teleported them back to the dorm that she shared with Evie. Now safe from any unwanted crowd, Jay and Evie were able to restrain Jessie from charging at Jane and managed to make her calm down and sit on a chair. Mal waved her hand at Jane. "Please, continue."

Jane nodded and took a deep breath. "The Martial Mating Procedure is something that began to stir a minor conflict that still concerns the Bog King, the Fairy Queen, and everyone in the court. See, until the kingdoms were united, the three civilized species each had their own mating rites, but then there was a clash that led to mashing and occasional minority problems."

"Meaning?" Jay frowned.

"The goblins and the fairies are by far the most numbered species surpassing the one of the elves. When the Bog King and the Fairy Queen fell in love, married, and had Prince Marius, the _very_ first hybrid child born from a goblin and a fairy, many of the citizens ended up wanting to form interspecies relationships. This kind of lead to hybrids slightly surpassing purebloods and fairy-goblin hybrids being the most dominant hybrids, which is why the sovereigns and the court passed the MMP, a combination of two mating rites, goblin and fairy, in the hopes to slow down our...problem."

"You mean like how China uses the 'one-child policy'?" Evie offered.

"Exactly!" Jane nodded at Evie.

"So...what are the mating rites?" Jessie asked, getting even more nervous as Jane continued.

"It's weird, but it's a combination of how goblins and fairies do individual mating. For goblins, it involves a genetic hormonal system that males have that helps them determine if whether or not the female they desire has the potential to give birth. The male would have to take the female with him to a dark place where no one would bother them as he, you know..." She pointed at the area between her legs, which caused the boys to fluster in embarrassment and Mal and Evie to gasp. Jessie didn't look as grossed out, but pressured Jane to continue.

"So if the dude accidently impregnates the chick, that's how he knows?" she asked coldly.

"No. The dude gets a series of muscle jingles during the penetration that A, lets him know that he is in fact dealing with a non-sterile virgin, and B, the hormonal system prevents the goblin to impregnate the female before they get married. Goblins have a rule against bearing children out of wedlock."

"What about fairies?"

"It's oddly more...symbolic and not seriously as penetrative. Just like for the goblin mating rituals, the male fairy has to locate days in advance a private area for himself and the female he wants. He also needs to set up a white lily petal blanket in the area where they will be. After some sexual stimulations, the male then has to insert two fingers in her..."

"GOD, NO!" Now Jessie was getting creeped out.

"And then it comes to the judging of the first drop of vaginal blood that hits the white lily blanket. If the blood starts spreading its way once it lands, it means that the female can reproduce, but if the blood doesn't move, then she's sterile. Although, honestly, sterility isn't really popular between the two species, and even if they ran into one sterile individual out of twenty, they hardly make a fuss about it. They just go find themselves another mate to love and reproduce with for the rest of their loves."

"Is that what happened with your parents?" Carlos asked his girlfriend before turning to the others. "Her dad works as a one of the castle caretakers in Bogfae's house."

"Sure, but since my parents are wingless fairies and we don't use magic very often, the court practically ignores us."

"That's mean," Evie said.

"It's just the way it is." Jane sadly sighed. "Wingless fairies are the ones usually tasked with magical gifts, but those with wings were among the first fairies that Titania and Oberon created and they are very numerous."

"Let's forget racial issues and go back to the main topic." Jessie snapped her fingers impatiently. "Jane, you don't honestly think that..." She gulped as she tried to bring out the words. "Your ruler would... _rape_ Penna and dump her because she can't be his baby-factory."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Prince Marius isn't like the queen's ex-fiancé Roland. He wouldn't go as far as to risk his own life just to court the most dangerous witch in all of Auradon."

"Besides, have you seen the way these two co-function?" Jay pointed. "It's as if they already knew each other before they met!"

"Exactly! But honestly, judging from the tension out of him pulling out the Kraken Needles - I still can't believe he did it- I wouldn't be surprised if the prince used charmwords to convince her to let him make his way with her."

"Charmwords?" Mal flipped through her spell book and found the right page. "'Charmwords, the power of persuasion and sole power that winged fairies from the Fae Realm possess. Depending on the current emotion of the fairy and the state of their target, charmwords help the fairy easily persuade the target into doing its bidding.' So, it's like hypnotism?"

"I'll give you an example." Carlos offered. "Back when I first visited the Fae Realm, Jane and her mom took with me on a tour of the Fae Realm's Elf Village and paused to see a class of kids having an outdoor class. Two of the kids began to argue with one another, and when the teacher couldn't stop them, a fairy guard came in and used his charmwords of patience to make the two calm down." His agitated his fingers to make booming gestures. "Took the kids less than five seconds to get back on their senses and apologize for disrupting the class."

"But, Penna can't be affected by charmwords!" Jessie got up from her chair. "Back in the old days, Bloodyle and Brittany told me that Voldemort casted a bunch of curses on Penna in order to make sure that only he could control her!"

"It's not brainwashing, but persuasion." Jane corrected her. "And even though what you said is true, there's a chance that fairy charmwords can affect her. The prince is literally doing everything physical, verbal, and emotional to woo Penna, and since she's had such a hard history of broken hearts and a desire to be romantically loved, she could be easily be convinced by his charmwords based on smitten seduction."

"And suppose he finds out that Penna can't have kids?" Jay asked a peculiar question. "She can't become his queen if he wanted to, right?"

"Nope. I mean, it's common for some of our sterile individuals to adopt orphans, but the traditions of the old Fairy Kingdom clearly state that only a direct royal-born descendant of Titania and Oberon can access the throne. Usually it goes straight to a first-born descendant, but if that same descendant happens to be sterile, the crown will be passed to the next in line. Of course, they cheat in advance and use a revealing stone to check the childbearing state of the newborn royals. Prince Marius and his cousin Daylight have both been confirmed to be capable of such a thing, but as the first-born, Marius gets the throne."

Jessie tapped her fingernails together nervously. Whenever she did that, it sounded like an executioner was trying to sharpen a thumb-sized ax on a piece of metal the size of Texas, creating an irritating noise. "And suppose Penna... _does_ turn out to be on the positive radar?"

"Well, I suppose that means the prince found himself both the girl of his dreams and a perfect candidate for the position of royal consort," Jane answered. "His cousin's presence's here can't just be out of family visiting. He must have thought that Daylight would end up liking Penna and see her as the prince's ideal match that's worth gossiping about back in the Fae Realm, which would lead to his parents coming over to meet her in person, give their son their blessing to ask her hand in marriage, and the day following his coronation in the summer, the Fae Realm would witness the union of the next sovereigns at the Primrose Chapel."

Jessie grabbed Mal by the collar. "Mal, do something! Hex one of them or give the guy amnesia! I can't lose Penna and neither can Minuit!" She begged. "She's the only family we have left!"

"You guys still have Feige and Dårlig." Carlos pointed out.

"These guys are like a weird married couple!" Jessie rolled her eyes. "Besides, they finally made the decision of retiring of their servitude to Penna and get married at the end of the school year before Dårlig heads off to that cooking college in Venice! I saw Penna give them her accord!"

"You still have us." Carlos waved his finger at all the present teenagers.

"I tried to give you a dose of Ace Chemicals when we were in kindergarten," Jessie said deadpan, making Carlos drop his finger.

"Look, let's not over panic," Mal made them calm down. "Heck, for all we know, Penna's probably leaving a bad impression on Marius' cousin."

 _Later, at lunchtime_

Mal got numerous glares from her friends and Jessie when she saw that her suggestion of Penna leaving a bad impression on Princess Daylight turned out all wrong. After they left their respective classes to go have lunchtime, they heard echoes all over the cafeteria coming from the laughter out of the table occupied by Penna, Marius, Daylight, and other students from the two schools gathering around out of fascination for the stories they were sharing to one another. Jessie ran away from Mal's group and tried to make her way through the crowd of listeners.

"And BAM! That's how my dad ended accidently destroying a sixth of the palace with a construction crane and a rock during the construction of the arena!" Daylight said.

"Which pretty much caused the destruction of a _good_ library," Marius added.

"You never liked that library," Daylight pointed out.

"Why do you think I preferred it when it got renovated?"

A burst of laughter came from many students, especially Penna, who seemed to have found her old-fashion way of laughing at the idea of destruction. Jessie finally made her way through and tapped Penna on the shoulder. "Boss!"

"There you are, Jessie! Come, sit with us!" Penna invited Jessie to sit next to her while the witch drank another cup of Pollen Ale, a quite tasteful beverage common in the Fae Realm that Daylight had brought with her to Auradon and passed around to the other students, who didn't seem to realize that the soda-like drink they were drinking was the fairy version of alcohol. "Jessie, this is Daylight, Bug Fly's cousin. Daylight, this is Jessie, one of my friends."

 _Friends_? Jessie blinked at the plural form of the word 'friend'. After spending six to seven years raising the one Muggle in her gang of lackeys that was psychotic, decent, loyal, and caring enough to be treated as a surrogate little sister slash daughter, she was now reduced to _friend_? She turned her head to look at the other students and noted that most of the _human_ students were the ones most affected from drinking too much Pollen Ale while those who were barely one percent human seemed unaffected and less...intoxicated.

"So you're the infamous Jessie Joker!" Daylight shook Jessie's hand in a friendly way that she couldn't even rate on the insane level. "By the way, your friend Penna told me all about the sneaky pranks you used to pull on the Isle."

"Really?" Jessie arched an eyebrow as she saw Penna pouring herself another glass. Judging from her experience at harassing patrons back at the Legume Tavern by drugging their bourbon, Jessie could tell that the Fae Realm royalty intentionally or inadvertently caused Penna to go into a drunk state from overdrinking.

"Quite so! Speaking of which, do you think you could apply that toxic clown makeup onto Roland? I'm sure he'd look quite awful...GAAAH!"

Daylight and the others yelped in pain after they got smeared all over by a large mass of yellowish white liquid that fell from the ceiling. Girls were complaining about their outfits being ruined, boys made a run for the showers, and Jessie licked the warm liquid that landed on her.

"Mmh. Tastes like eggnog."

"Eggnog?" Melgo, who was passing by with Ronilda, dipped her fingers onto Jessie's liquid covered face and tasted the substance. She scowled. " _Grinchelda_."

The daughter of the Grinch and Martha May Whovier jumped from her hiding spot in the ceiling's support beam while carrying a large glass barrel full of the substance. A label with the red words 'NOGOFF' was screaming for attention.

"Grinch, we all like your Nogoff but in cups," Melgo said crossly.

"OOH, NOGOFF!" Gladiola jumped from her hiding spot in Ronilda's hair with Reedy and the two tried to make a run for the barrel until Ronilda caught them by the hair and tail respectively and put them on her shoulder.

"Honestly, with the way they looked like the Pollen Ale was driving them to DC..."

"Washington DC?" Jessie looked confusingly at Grinchelda.

"No. Drunk City."

"Oh."

"Well here's another DC for you and it's called _detention classroom_!" Mr. Barkin pulled the barrel of Nogoff right out of Grinchelda and proceeded to confiscate the Pollen Ale. "As of now, these drinks are labeled as prohibited to all minors on school ground with a penalty of detention. So all of you, including the visiting royalty, will be seeing me at detention this afternoon."

"How bad is detention?" Marius asked.

"Terrible since this afternoon is Surprise Visit Day."

The reformees gasped in horror. "It's _today_?" Othello cried as he tried to wipe off the Nogoff on his shirt. "Jackal poop!"

"Surprise Visit Day?" Jessie asked.

"It's a mix of Family Day and the lottery," Grinchelda explained. "Every month, the teachers and student family members do a lottery where they sign their names in and get randomly picked. If they get picked, they get to visit the related student at school for an entire half of the day."

"Never a problem for me." Ronilda grumbled. "My parents are way too busy to even bother popping for a visit. Last time I got picked, I got a visit from my uncles Jim and Tim."

"Funny you should say that, Stoppable..." Mr. Barkin sneered.

 _Minutes later_

After seventeen minutes of vomiting in the boy's bathroom, Martin's face was still pale and his hands were clutching his stomach when he came out. He was still sweating from the dreadful Biology test he just took. Just remembering what he had to dissect made him want to shout at the teacher that there was a good reason why he was a strict vegetarian.

"As you can see..." Without intending to, Martin accidently bumped into Ben while the latter was giving a tour to a bunch of adults. The king of Auradon had to catch him from falling due to his poor state of dizziness, interrupting the tour. "Martin, what on earth happened to you?" He asked quietly in order to avoid the adults getting attention on the boys.

"I'm gonna...kill Barkin...for making me dissect a dead monkey from Smarty Mart." Martin held a hand over his mouth, an action that Ben discreetly hid from the others.

"Look, just go to the infirmary. I'm a little busy right now."

"Gee, where do you...think I'm heading?" Martin rolled his eyes at him.

"Is there a problem, Your Highness?" one of the adults suddenly asked and stepped forward.

Martin was too dizzy to notice the man while Ben tried to hide the former from the latter. "Nothing to worry about, I assure you!" Ben said in a hurried tone. "I might have to delay the tour of the school just so I can escort one of my classmates to the infirmary. Biology, you know..." He chuckled nervously.

"Well if you want, I can escort him to the infirmary myself," the man offered.

"Oh, that won't be necessary, sir." Ben brushed off the offer.

"Relax, your Highness. My wife's got a device full of apps for business notes. If I miss out on anything during the tour, I'll be able to look back at her notes." He gently took Martin out of Ben's grasp and held the sick boy by the arm. "So which way is it?"

Ben pointed down the hallway and bit his fingernails nervously as he watched the man bring Martin to the infirmary. _Good thing he's still oblivious_ , he thought to himself. _Otherwise, we might have a problem._

 _Later, at the infirmary_

"And make sure you get a good dose of these vitamins for the next three days," the nurse told Martin as she placed a plastic bottle full of blue liquid onto the nightstand near the bed where Martin was laying on. After nearly five minutes of throwing up in the nurse's basin, Martin was feeling rather dehydrated. But that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that the nurse now forced him to wear plastic gloves and slippers while he was resting in the infirmary. Even when he had to shield his simian limbs while under disguises, Martin loathed gloves and shoes due to the fabrics and shapes tightening his unique dexterous hands and preventing him from even wiggling his toes.

"Seriously, the amount of VKs I have coming in my infirmary," the nurse grumbled as she grabbed some papers to bring to Fairy Godmother for filling up. "Stay here and don't think of making your stomach any more uneasy."

"Tell that to Barkin," Martin said drily. "He should have known that I'm a vegetarian!"

"Yeah, I don't think he cares." Those were the last words the nurse said before leaving. Martin waited for the door to close, but it didn't in order to make way for the man who had sacrificed continuing the tour in order to get him to the infirmary.

Not much was to describe about the man other than the fact that he was blonde, fair skinned, probably in his late thirties, nearly touching his forties, and dressed in a black-and-white business suit with only his orange tie standing out. Not to mention that his hair was still suffering from messy strands despite his attempts to brush them backwards. Plus, there was just something about his hazel eyes and how he had three big strands of hair sticking out just above his forehead that looked familiar.

"Suffered from Mr. B's biology class too?" the man guessed.

"Sadly yes," Martin said with a pitiful shake of the head.

"I don't blame you. With all the teachers he substitutes, high school was no where near cool." He held out his hand. "I'm Ronald Stoppable, the chief executive officer of Bueno Nacho."

Martin felt like he just got punched thirteen times in the stomach, poured with boiling oil twelve times, and smacked at least forty-two times on the face. He managed to hide his clenching teeth and sweating forehead from the man his father hated more than anything else in the planet and kept reminding Martin every single year that anyone who was a Stoppable or related to Ron Stoppable was taboo.

No wonder he seemed familiar. Exclude the cynical expression, rebellious clothing, ginger hair color, and feminine sex, Ronilda was half the spitting image of her father.

Good thing that Martin had his limbs covered, otherwise Ron Stoppable would be screaming for a restraining order.

"Bet that's a hard job," Martin said, feeling his stomach wanting to throw up again as he played nice with the family foe.

"It is," Mr. Stoppable sighed. "It's even harder when you try to give your only kid a normal life when you're not even there to give it to her."

The mention of Ronilda caught his attention. Hoping to convince the man to get out of his sight, Martin spoke rather bluntly. "Normal life? Whenever her parents get mentioned, Ronilda keeps saying the worst about how her parents never have enough time to be with her and just throw cash at her rather than visit her for birthdays."

"A good reason why I had to convince my wife to at least _spare_ an afternoon of work so that, for _once_ in thirteen or ten years -honestly, I lost count, we can be actual parents to Ron." He sat on the chair near Martin's bed.

"I thought Ronilda said you two were too busy to even be near her." Martin frowned.

"We are. Believe me, when you were part of a teenage crime-fighting couple, you learned the hard way how to tangle normal, civilian life with famous, world crime-fighting careers, and my wife and I...well, we had polar personalities. She was the straight A person, cheerleading captain, world heroine girl who preferred to be 'normal'."

" _Kim Possible_ wanted to be normal? Are you sure it's the same woman?"

"If we're talking about the same way who preferred spending her allowance on a fancy pair of pants at Club Banana rather than by the same one at the cheapest price at Smarty Mart, didn't believe me about Camp Wannaweep and Monkey Fist being bad road, had a hard time accepting that a guy on a wheelchair does not mean he can't fight bad guys or that her little brothers were genius enough to skip to high school level, then yes. Same woman who married me, the underdog who did things that most people would find insignificant until you joined the football team as the running back."

"I can't imagine." Personally, Martin never understood why most teen traditions labeled sport jocks as the female magnet. What on earth was so interesting about beefy men in sweaty uniforms bragging about their muscles, wanting to punch anyone holding a book, a molest ladies?

"Tragically for my KP..."

"KP?" Martin frowned.

"The nickname I gave my wife ever since we were kids. You know, an abbreviation for her name." Mr. Stoppable clasped his hands together in frustration. "Tragically for KP, Ronilda made it quite clear that she didn't like us steering our eyes away from her and to our work ethnics. My wife and I tried to persist our daughter into enjoying the normal life of a rich heiress and kept sending her expensive items for her to focus on, but that just wasn't enough for Ronilda. She ended up going as far as she could to get our attention, especially those of her mother, and at the same time, she showed that she pretty much..." He didn't say the words, so Martin had to guess the words for him.

"Hated being your kid?"

The adult nodded.

"I can see the reasons why she'd want to get the attention." _Cheerleading captain, employment at Smarty Mart, ninja skills, Bueno Nacho customer, pet naked mole rat, and insane popularity,_ the VK thought to himself. "But hate you?"

"Oh, she did a lot." The man chuckled. "When she wasn't living in Yamanouchi, she refused to initially live with her Possible relatives and preferred to live with her friend Melgo's family."

Martin was shocked. " _Your_ daughter preferred to live with a blue-skinned so-called mad scientist and green-blasting mercenary like Drakken and Shego? No wonder she has such an attitude..."

"And she got quite an influence. Mocking her own parents' faults, acting impulsively, intentionally getting herself in detention, and socializing with reformees with strong ex-evil ties...I had to beg my wife to not send Ronilda to an actual detention center..."

This caught Martin's attention. He sat up straight on his bed, just glad that the nurse wasn't here. "Kim Possible wanted to put her own daughter in a detention center? But everytime somebody ends up there, they have a good chance of being sent to the Isle of the Lost!" He cried. "How on earth did that happen?"

Mr. Stoppable said nothing. He just had an indifferent look in his face, as if he was remembering something from the past that he didn't want to remember. For five seconds, Martin couldn't lay a finger until he recognized the expression that the adult was hiding. Ironically, he had seen that expression on Monkey Fist's face before.

The expression of a parent who saw his child with a broken heart.

"Oh." The hair on his hands and feet itched on the plastic.

"My old arch-foe Monkey Fist had a son who did quite some crimes of his own," Mr. Stoppable said, not realizing that he was talking to the ex of his daughter. "About three years ago, he broke in the Yamanouchi School to steal the Lotus Blade. As she was still in Yamanouchi and trained as a ninja, Ronilda volunteered to go after him and bring back the sword. I still don't understand why Sensei let her go after him. Almost everybody knew in Yamanouchi that anyone related to Monkey Fist would try to make her life unbearable due to our family feud. The only thing I ever got out of this was that she wanted to prove herself worthy of her parents by confronting the progeny of her father's foe."

"Did she fight him?" Martin played along while his memory played back the day he actually met Ronilda after she chased him.

 _Three years ago_

 _He was pathetically desperate. Normally, he'd do what his father taught him and hide somewhere in the wild mysteries of nature, in caverns several layers beneath the helicopters in the air or in canopies full of leafy clouds above the cars on the road. Anything that could camouflage a monkey from a hunter without getting caught was fair game for the Fiskes, but not with the hunter he was currently dealing with._

 _Just ten hours ago, Martin had snuck his way through the woods and waterfall that shielded Yamanouchi from the outside world, climbed up the mountain itself with his bare hands while the moon-less night shrouded him in the shadows, and made his way past the guards in order to get to the room where the Lotus Blade was kept safely on an altar. Things went well until he heard the shrilling sound of the new alarm system that Yamanouchi placed to catch any Mystical Monkey Power wielding individual who tried to steal the Lotus Blade. Thank you, Monkey Fist._

 _Fortunately, he did what his father did decades ago and managed to escape before the ninja security patrol reached the scene of the crime. They seemed agitated and confused when Martin looked one more time at the monastery before he finally got out of the sector. It was if they thought he came something else. Something that was probably worth more to hunt down than the sword._

 _He lost interest in the ninjas' confusion in order to make his way, but barely an hour after he managed to make his way to the nearest town, he sensed one of the Yamanouchi ninjas chasing him. Originally, there were more ninjas after him, but they underestimated the clever devil he was and ended up losing him after he managed to trick them through endless alleys and even a manhole. But the first ninja was stubborn enough to actually ditch his tricks, and the next thing Martin knew, the ninja didn't stop trailing him. At first, he tried his usual traveling and resting in the natural environment, but after the ninja made it evident for the first two hours since their personal cat-and-mouse game began that he or she wasn't going to give up, Martin began to panic and ended up sneaking through quick public transportations from Japan to South Korea and finally Eastern China, with the ninja still hot in his pursuit._

 _Ditching the ninja for the last ten hours was wearing out Martin faster than he himself could work out, so the desperate measure had to be taken._

 _If he couldn't hide his monkey fur in the wild, he had to resort to hiding his human skin in human civilization. Thanks to a service owed by Big Daddy Brotherson, one of the few unimprisoned crime lords trying their best to keep their work going while avoiding a certain transfer to the Isle, Martin got himself a disguise as a British tourist named Mark Finiste and a penthouse suite in the last place on earth he ever imagined to hide in: The Venetian Macao._

 _As long as he kept an eye on the city through his curtains, locked the door unless the housekeeper came in (nice lady, that Lihua), and kept his hair brushed up and his hands and feet hidden in the unbearable accessories he loathed at all times, he doubted that the ninja would find him. And by tomorrow, he'd sneak into the next plane heading for London._

 _Just as he laid on his bed, sighing in relief from ten hours of pursuit, the front door of the suite knocked. Martin quickly used his gift to turn the Lotus Blade into a silver colored tie that he switched with the red one he was already wearing. "Yes?" He called out._

 _"Miss Lihua, good sir," a voice called out from outside. "I come to bing dinner to good sir."_

 _Martin arched an eyebrow as he cautiously unlocked the door. Why was Miss Lihua speaking in a phony, poor English dialect while she spoke English fluently the last time she had passed by?_

 _"My dinner wasn't supposed to come until 7pm," he said in tense politeness as he only opened the door by an inch, leaving him enough room to spy on 'Miss Lihua. Despite the modest grey maid uniform, it was obviously not Lihua. Lihua was a plump, middle-aged woman who smelled of cabbage soup and jasmine tea and who kept telling Martin that a boy of his age should be searching himself a child-bearing wife, while the housekeeper standing before him was clearly a teenager, hardly a year younger than him, average sized, and wore a wig to match the black bun of the original model._

 _"Hotel services try to be punctual. Is good service," the faker insisted._

 _"Is that so?" His nostrils inhaled the scent of the imposter. Obviously, the person standing before him was not bearing the cabbage soup and jasmine tea odor of Miss Lihua but the fragrance of Kenzo flower eau de toilette perfume, just like those from the expensive boutiques he had seen on every stupid American advertisement and smelled all over the lobby downstairs since the female American clients just adored wasting such substance to attract others like bees to honey. "Well, I hate to feel like I made you come all the way up here for nothing, but please come back later..."_

 _ **CRASH!**_

 _Just as he slowly closed the door, the fake Lihua threw her leg up and crushed the doorknob right after he moved his hand out of instinct. He got himself in a straight Tai Shing Pek Kwar pose and kicked off the annoying accessories, revealing his simian appendages ready to hit the woman who ripped off the maid outfit, revealing to be wearing the actual Yamanouchi ninja garb. "The annoying ninja," he said sarcastically. "My number one fan. I'm afraid I'm fresh out of paper to write an autograph with." He cracked his knuckles. "Perhaps you'd prefer the autograph on your grave?"_

 _"Depends if I die first," the ninja said, this time in fluent English. This stunned Martin. For a ninja who came from Yamanouchi, this one had a very fluent American accent. She removed the wig and unleashed several messy locks of gingery blonde hair that framed her Caucasian face and hazel eyes._

 _"OK." Martin arched an eyebrow in confusion before he decided to attack the girl. "That is not something I deal with everyday."_

 _Present_

The memory of his first _actual_ encounter with Ronilda almost made Martin forget that he was still in the infirmary with Ron Stoppable, who had still no idea that he was telling the story of his daughter's ruined relationship to the actual ex-boyfriend. It was a good thing that Martin knew the exact details of the story, which surprisingly matched those of the unsuspecting man.

"So, is it true when Ronilda said about a bunch of wanted ads revealing her true identity and ruining her relationship with Martin Fiske?" It felt strange, talking about himself in third person.

Mr. Stoppable sighed. "Poor RJ. When we heard no personal news from our daughter in twenty-hours, we each individually called Yamanouchi and my wife freaked out the most when she learned that we let our only child go after the son of the one villain we were the most familiar with, particularly because he never hesitated to kill with his own hands. With Wade's help and the entire media, Kim was able to unleash electronic ads about our missing daughter in almost every single electronic device in the world, with the family name in bold letters. An employee in the Venetian Macao said he saw a girl physically similar to our daughter playing cards with an ape-like teenager. Martin Fiske was gone by the time we came for Ronilda. She was intact, without any visible scars or injuries. The only ones she had and made obvious were those of a broken heart. Despite what my wife said and argued with to Ronilda, it still shocked me that..."

"That what?" Martin asked.

"That he let her live." The man looked at Martin when he said the sentence. "I mean, Monkey Fist hated me to the bone and I'm sure he raised his son into the same philosophy, but if Martin Fiske was such a bad seed, than why did he let my daughter live when he could have killed her on the spot, especially when she was vulnerable at the moment he found out the truth?

"At least Ronilda seemed to have gained a sense of independence and strength from the fiasco, but the mother-daughter relationship was getting strained. Kim thought that the criminal mentally poisoned our daughter on purpose. She wanted to send Ronilda to an Auradonian detention center in order to 'push some sense' into our daughter..."

"But that's a folly!" Martin was shocked. The Kim Possible, the so-called crime-fighting heroine who could do anything, was willing to threaten her daughter to stop being foolish or go to the Isle? Compare that to Penna De Mort herself and now the latter looked more like a saint.

"Why do you think I had a small chat with my daughter, begged my wife to not make a mistake worse than our parental neglect towards Ronilda, and bribed the judge?" Mr. Stoppable asked quietly. "In the end, my wife and I had to agree that the least we could do to deal with our daughter's attitude was to send her to the school they built on the ruins of our old high school. At St Luther, Ronilda made friends that she connect and sympathize with, but at the same time she made it clear that she could never forgive us for ruining everything she had with her first love. I asked her once, just so I could know: 'Ronilda, I just want to know. What is it about this one guy that makes him so different from others and you to hate us more?' And she told me: 'At least he liked me for what I wasn't! Your kid!'"

"She said that?" Martin blinked.

"She sure did. She even went as far as to dress in mostly red and black, his two main colors, keep her hair in a style like his, and bully those who annoyed her with Monkey Kung Fu moves. And then, well... Ever since the thing that happened on the Isle, she's still upset that not only Martin kept rebuffing her feelings like the first time, but he was genuinely attached to another girl. For that part, I must confessed that she's behaving like a brat. I mean, after three years, he was at least bound to have moved on and go with someone he preferred, despite the minor differences the Wayne and Stoppable clans have."

Martin nodded. Oddly, he was now feeling some regret. To think he had been behaving like a jerk to Ronilda!

Mr. Stoppable looked at the clock in the infirmary. "Well, I'd better get going. Otherwise, my wife will go all paranoid again." He got up and shook hands with Martin. "It was really nice to talk to you, kid. I hope you recover."

"Thanks," Martin said sincerely. "You know, I honestly think you should tell your daughter what you just told me."

Ron Stoppable blinked at him. "You think she'd want to?"

"Better now than never," Martin shrugged. The man nodded gratefully to him and left the room, leaving Martin alone and forcing him to recall the first and last restless night he had at the Venetian Macao.

 _Three years ago_

 _Martin put the last set of cards he held in his hands onto the white sheets of the bed. He smirked at RJ. "It looks like I've won the first round of our little game of strip go fish."_

 _"I might as well give up." Ronilda dropped her cards and let her arms fold over Martin's shoulders. "You're too good at this."_

 _"Years of practice, milady." He kissed the gingery blonde girl while his hands pulled on the collar of her ninja garb. His father could ground him for life for teaching Tai Shing Pek Kwar moves and playing a go fish version of strip poker to the ninja initially tasked to hunt him down and bring back the Lotus Blade. Martin wouldn't care. Years of being cooped up in his castle with little outside interactions and still a bit scarred from the incident with his late heartless mother, he was living his first moments of genuine attraction to someone of the opposite gender._

 _He could hear RJ's sighs and moans through their kiss as he pulled down her shirt and touched her now bare skin, feeling the frail shivers. Delicate reactions were required, because he could tell from RJ's physical reaction when she was not sparring with him that she was quite emotionally sensitive. His instincts sensed that her eager hormones were still awfully young, thus showing that she had only begun her transfer from child to teenager a month ago or so, compared to him, who was older by a year and thus more mature than her. Instant penetration would have to delay a bit._

 _RJ pulled back from the kiss but still cuddled in his arms. Her head rested just at the crook of his neck, sending the waves of fragrance to his nose and thus tempting him enough to stroke her hair. "You're so much better than they described you," she sighed, making him think that she was referring to the Yamanouchi ninjas._

 _"How nice of you to say that," he replied quietly._

 _"I just feel more like myself with you than like the person they want me to be."_

 _This part made him blush, especially since it preceded RJ pecking his cheek with affection. "Oh, well..."_

 _"_ _ **And police reports declare to all global citizens that whoever can locate the rich couple Kimberly Ann Possible and Ronald Stoppable's daughter Ronilda Stoppable will receive a high reward**_ _." The TV channel was turned on with a low volume, but it didn't take much for Martin's eyes to register the face of the wanted ad._

 _The ad that matched the face of his first love right in his arms._

 _The face of Ronilda Stoppable, who looked up to see the former expression of affection from her lover turn into a bitter, betrayed expression of anger from her new enemy._

 _"You tricked me!" He snarled angrily. His anger now gave him the guts to push Ronilda off of him violently, sending the poor girl to cry on the carpeted floor._

 _"Martin, I can explain!" She begged through her tears, but he only listened to his heartbroken fury. He violently pulled off his tie from his neck, reverting it back to its original sword appearance. Fear was now on Ronilda's face when she saw Martin bear the Lotus Blade in his hands and waited for him to strike her... until a clanging sound was heard._

 _Martin hadn't killed her. He just threw the sword at her feet while keeping one chipped piece of the blade to himself._

 _"I hope you rot in Hell," he snarled bitterly. A smoke bomb followed, and the next thing Martin knew, he had left the casino, ignoring the faint cries begging him to come back._

 _Present_

Martin looked out the window of the infirmary. The courtyard was still in plain sight and he could see Ben continuing the tour to the adults. Some reformees from St Luther were rushing their way to the group, hugging some of the adults or trying to avoid embarrassing parental affection. And just on one of the stone benches, Martin spotted Mr. Stoppable having what appeared to be an honest conversation with Ronilda. Naturally, he couldn't hear what they were saying, but judging by how Ronilda was now crying and hugging her father, 'I'm sorry' had to be one of the discussion's references.

"You know, for a moment I thought you were going to burst into song, but then I realized I forgot you can't sing."

Martin almost jumped at Marius' sneakiness. He hadn't even heard him open the door. "Aren't you supposed to be with your girlfriend?"

"She's currently hanging out with my cousin. You'd tell me to get out of Auradon if you heard me say they're almost as thick as thieves," Marius chuckled as he pulled out a golden bottle from his tunic. "Would you care for some Pollen Ale? It sort of tastes like what humans call 'soda' but it's sort of alcoholic."

"No thank you." Martin shook his head. "Alcohol isn't even supposed to be consumed by those bellow 21."

"Suit yourself." The prince uncorked the bottle and took quite a sip. "I heard Barkin got you sick in biology class."

"And I heard you managed to pluck De Mort out of her needles," Martin replied while getting rid for once of the plastic gloves and slippers. "I already thought you were crazy enough to even crush on the world's most lethal witch, but pulling off six needles while making out with her? You're twisted."

"I thought I was doing her a favor. OK, initially I thought humans did this to her, but still...No one should suffer from these needles."

"What a philanthropist." Martin rolled his eyes. "So, does that mean you'll be plucking the remaining needles and liberate her from evil?"

"Yeah, about that..." Marius pulled out a manuscript and opened it to a page that turned out to discuss the Kraken Acupuncture Needles. Curious to see a different culture's information, Martin looked at the pages himself.

"Wow, the fairy dialect is almost relative to the Hindi dialect," he said in amazement.

"I tried using this book from home in order to find out the cure for Penna's Kraken Acupuncture Needles," Marius explained.

"' _Therefore, if the host were to be given a kiss of pure romance or any sort of physical touch of sincere affection, the skin tissue where the Kraken Needles are planted will soften and the affection-bringer can carefully pull out the needles one at a time,_ '" Martin read out loud. "So it means that De Mort has finally found her love match. How does this relate to her physically changing?"

"Well, the book didn't mention anything about why I couldn't pull one of the needles or that Penna's father was smart enough to put a death sentence on his daughter by annexing the Kraken Needles to her Horcruxes. The way I understand it, just removing a needle would slowly poison her with his blood unless she fills up the empty spaces with a murdered soul and gets a new Horcrux, and trading a Horcrux to save the life of another will not poison her when she tries to remove a needle."

"If she has to save a life with her Horcruxes, than maybe she could try it on the dying patients at the hospital," Martin suggested. "I mean, there were no specifications." He blinked at the pages once more and noticed something. Using one of his claws, he pricked his finger and let a single drop of blood land on the pages and spread like a plague, revealing small hidden words hidden between the texts' double spaces. "Blood is thicker than ink and water combined. The pages had hidden information."

"Unbelievable," Marius gasped as he took the book back in his hands and read the new information. "' _It should be warned that the removal of the Kraken Needles has two negative impacts on the bearer. The first is the ancient needles, meaning the first half of Kraken Acupuncture Needles. Due to being the hosts' first and oldest half of the needles or those connected to traumatic experiences, they are extremely more difficult to pull off, therefore an extreme amount of physical touch of sincere affection is required._ ' So that's why I couldn't pull one of the needles. It was either one of the oldest or part of Penna's traumatic experiences."

"An extreme amount of physical touch..." Martin blinked. "I don't want to jump into conclusions, but is it suggesting that you..." He made a scissor shape with two fingers from his left hand and poked the in-between section with his right index finger. The prince of the Fae Realm blushed a bit. He immediately understood what Martin meant.

"Well, I'd have to do it anyway," Marius sighed. "My cousin Daylight seems to be enjoying her time with Penna, my servants and guards find her a fair leader, the Sugar Plum Fairy, _no comment_ , and I'm certain my parents would like Penna once they get to meet her, but tradition would want me to have a fertile consort. Only Lord Oberon and Lady Titania's blood descendants can inherit the throne. Fortunately, there's a traditional rite for mating to ensure the female member can conceive..."

"Accidental pregnancy? My father once told me that he found out I was going to be on my way when he got the news that he accidentally impregnated my mother." He shook his head. "And people still don't realize the accuracy of them calling me 'bastard'."

"No, I have the goblin hormonal system to detect fertility in a female and keep myself from impregnating a female before the marriage..." He stopped talking when he saw Martin starting to laugh his head off. "What now?"

" _You_ and _De Mort_ at the _altar_? Good one!" He gave a small punch on the shoulder of the prince while continuing to laugh until he saw the latter's deadpan glare, causing his laugh to falter. "Wait, you're actually serious? You've barely been in Auradon for a month, focused more on a romantic relationship with a girl who's not even from your own world rather than doing political business, only kissed her once, did a romantic gesture that jeopardized her current health, and you're already thinking about _marrying_ her?"

"Well it's not like she's living a happy life here with all the people who still treat her like a disease," Marius pointed out.

 _Good point_ , Martin thought. After all the crimes she did in the past, it's not like anyone was going to miss the daughter of Voldemort. "Still, have you considered what De Mort would think? Despite decades of professional villainy and making everyone live miserably, if there are two things that she's conscious about, it's her relationship with her minions and how other people's reputations get ruined from just knowing her personally. Sparkle, Joker, Bergen, and Blomstroll are the only ones left out of the six lackeys she had who actually saw her as family and she felt the same way. Did you consider how De Mort would react to the idea of moving to another dimension without them?"

"So they could come along," Marius shrugged.

"These four also have their own lives!" Martin protested. He was going to continue until he saw the prince's current expression and the truth hit him. Marius Bogfae might be a genuinely nice person trying to be a fair ruler to his people and please the girl he adored, but he was still arrogant and selfish enough to see things in the vision where things just had to be done his way because his Highness was not only the future king of the Fae Realm but a descendant of deities.

 _It's unbearable, don't you think_? An old voice told him at the back of his head. _When things just don't go the way you want them to go? When the world isn't all about you?_

"I hope you intoxicate yourself in your Pollen Ale," he told Marius in the same tone he had used on Ronilda three years ago, only this time he shoved the prince in order to get the hell out of the infirmary despite the returning nurse telling him to get back here.

 _Blackmail, Tiger Breath, Stoppable, Royal Snob..._ He mentally muttered before speaking out loud. "I just don't see how the rest of my life can get any worse."


	25. Mysterious Descendants Fail To Kidnap

Chapter 25: Mysterious Descendants Fail To Kidnap

Lonnie had passed on dinner in order to check on Artemis. The son of Nightmare Moon was still in a coma and under the magical shield protection, which did not reassure Lonnie at all when she came to his house and sat by his bed for almost two hours, hoping that he would burst up in perfect health. But those hopes were for naught.

"It's close to ten, darling," Radiance said when she saw that Lonnie was still here once the former was done cleaning up the house. "You might want to get some sleep. Otherwise, you won't have any strength left for the music event tomorrow."

"At this rate, I don't know if I can even participate while my boyfriend is still knocked out cold," Lonnie said grimly. "I regret arguing with him the last time I saw him."

"My cousin might not me the most social dream-hopper in the world, but his devotion to you is sincere," Radiance told Lonnie as she guided the latter out of the room, leaving Lonnie just a few seconds to glance back at the unconscious Artemis before Radiance closed the door. The two girls walked down the hallway decorated with night sky wallpaper that looked so realistic, it was as if the universal stars were moving along as they reached the front door.

"Pinkamenus must have it worse than I do," Lonnie commented while Radiance opened the front door, sending in a small warm evening breeze.

"Believe me, darling, Flash and Fletcher instantly calmed his sorrows down by taking him to his favorite toy store. I highly doubt he'll scream louder tomorrow if he comes back with a new plush toy."

Lonnie grinned a bit. "Good night, Radiance. Please, keep an eye on Artemis."

"I will." The daughter of Nightmare Rarity nodded. "I bid thee the same advice."

Lonnie then left for the dorms. The night sky was dark, without any sign of moonlight or stars. The air was unusually warm for an end of April evening. Students had begun to go to bed by now, except for the few reformees who had their visiting parents take them out to town for a little family time. Even Ronilda, who usually spoke badly of her parents, decided to give her parents a chance and the three were probably having nacos at a local Bueno Nacho.

The room she and Kory shared was empty since Kory had gone to the Dark Ruler's studio to practice one more time with the band before the music event tomorrow. She had even taken her pet wolf Carmine with her, leaving the room completely silent. Lonnie shivered a bit as she took her toiletry bag, a towel, and a pink slip nightgown (the weather was unusually warm) and made her way to the girls' bathroom. Everything was so silent, it made her feel uneasy, especially with the things going on about Penna and Martin being personally harassed, and with Artemis not around to protect her, she was rather vulnerable.

After five good minutes of soaking herself in hot water and soap, Lonnie stepped out of the shower, dried herself, and put on her nightgown. Just as she was about to fold her towel, something prickled her elbow.

"Ouch!" She picked the thing that poked her like a needle and frowned when she saw that the thing looked like a picked fingernail. "OK, that is...so...ugh."

Lonnie couldn't even speak or move her muscles. It was as if all of a sudden, her body decided to stop responding. Next thing she knew, she fell on the wet tiled floor, unable to blink, speak, or even lift a pinkie finger when two boys she never encountered before stomped on the watery puddles of the girls' bathroom.

"Nothing personal," one of them said as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her like the firemen did with victims. Except this fireman had an awful scent of car fuel and shaving gel and he didn't even seem to care that his head almost had a visual of Lonnie's bare buttock.

"Let's get the other one," he told his comrade.

 _Five minutes later, in Martin's house_

He sat on the carpeted floor of his living room, his organs relaxed in a Lotus position as he meditated by the fireplace. His lungs took deep inhaling and exhaling as the sound of cracking wood and burning ash echoed in the silent room. After the sour day he had, meditation was the best solution for Martin Fiske.

"Inner peace..." He said quietly between breaths. "Inner peace..."

 _Another rotten day for you?_

A glow caught his eyes' attention. Aside from the fireplace's red glow, he was also faced with the purple glow of a spiritual presence. The spiritual presence of a woman in an exposing teal-and-purple ninja outfit, open-toed boots, fingerless gloves, and a large mass of brown hair tied in a braid that moved like an actual tail. A spiritual presence whose denim blue eyes and vertical scars stared at Martin and whose left arm had a tattoo of the Mystical Monkey Power symbol.

"Don't you ever leave me alone?" Martin muttered at the spirit.

 _I'm merely looking out for you_ , the female ninja spirit shrugged.

"For crying out loud, I'm almost eighteen. I don't need protection," Martin snapped quietly. "Well, especially not from your astral projection."

 _Well, currently I can't do it from where I am right now_. The astral projection shrugged casually. _Besides, where is your sense of gratitude? Are you forgetting who gave you these at your request?_ The astral projection leaned in and tapped a finger on each of Martin's claws, making a sound similar to the echoes of clanging glass.

"It was you," he muttered without losing his patience.

 _And I did it for free! Well, technically I just rid you off something you wanted off your shoulders, but still cheap._ The astral projection gave a smug grin. _Nothing goes for free, especially with those who can bring great meaning to others._ It then sighed. _But with you being Monkey Fist's son...it was worth it_.

"Yeah, for someone with a history of deals and Monkey Witchcraft, you seem to know my father more than you make it appear. Just how do you know him?"

The astral projection's face wrinkled with sour bitterness. _Why don't you ask the one witch in all of Auradon who has a history of breaking families apart?_ Her body then faded, leaving Martin all alone once more in front of the fireplace.

"Thanks for leaving me hang...MMPH!" A cloth suddenly covered his nose and a strong scent of what he recognized as paralysis toxins went through his respiratory system and into his muscles, weakening him enough to fall on the floor. His eyes could only see feminine black shoes and striped thigh high socks standing in front of him and two male figures stepping inside his living room. To his shock, one of them was carrying a similarly paralyzed Lonnie over his shoulders.

Good thing Martin was paralyzed, otherwise he would have scolded the aggressors for kidnapping a lady while she was in the middle of cleaning up and carrying her around in a very ungentlemanly manner.

"Now that we got our shopping list checked," the one carrying Lonnie said while the other male threw Martin over his shoulder in a similar manner, "let's get the hell out of here."

 _At Penna's house_

"You look glum," Daylight commented to her cousin. The two royal cousins from the Fae Realm were having evening tea, a classic etiquette of fairy aristocracy, at Penna's house, and while Penna was bringing over her steaming homemade several leaves herbal tea in a teakettle along with some cups to the small drawing room she had, Marius seemed to be anything but eager to drink tea.

"Am I really so selfish and arrogant, Daylight?" he asked while he absently stared at the window, which showed the empty sidewalks and green fields of Malevia Village. His cousin looked at Penna, who merely shrugged to say that she had no idea what was going.

"Let's just say you..." Daylight snapped her fingers for the right words. "Have a tendency to expect things to go your way. Why? Is it Kit and Junk again?"

"No," Marius sighed. "Fancy Pants and I had an argument and...let's just say that he most likely viewed my opinions as selfish."

"There's someone in Auradon Prep called Fancy Pants?" Daylight frowned. "That's weird."

"No, that's just his nickname for one of his new friendly rivals, Martin Fiske," Penna said as she filled a teacup with tea and handed it to Daylight, who almost jumped out of her seat when she took a sniff of the tea.

"Wow! That's a strong fragrance!" The princess exclaimed.

"Sorry," Penna said sincerely. "My several leaves tea is a peculiar recipe made out of seven different herbs. I mostly drink it to keep my senses sharp and alert." She filled another cup and handed it to Marius. "So, what did you and Fiske argue about?"

Marius sighed as he took the cup of tea. A simply shake of his head meant that he didn't want to say anything at all. Despite the strong fragrance of the tea, he prepared to drink the beverage until he spotted something outside the window and ended up spitting his tea on the window. " **GREAT MOTHER OF PUCK!** " The girls ran to see what he saw and gasped when they saw a trio of teenagers running through the empty street with Martin and Lonnie hanging on their shoulders like rag dolls. Without hesitating, Penna rushed to the drawing room's left wall and pushed out of the way a painting of Adam and Eve, revealing a red button the size of her fist.

"What are you doing?" Daylight exclaimed. She got her response when Penna punched the button three times, causing a blaring red siren to ring through not only her house but the entire campus as well. The lampposts outside began to blink with red lights.

"What the hell is this?" Marius shouted as the three rushed outside.

"Security protocol in case of emergency at Malevia Village!" Penna shouted. "Each house has it!"

 **KIDNAPPING ALERT! KIDNAPPING ALERT! KIDNAPPING ALERT!**

"Is the alarm really this accurate?" Daylight shouted.

"Only if you punch the button three times!"

They ran outside, where a turmoil of descendants and faculty made their way like a stampede of gazelles surrounding a pack of lions. Only the gazelles were all in their pajamas and bearing whatever they thought was useful as a weapon and the lions were just three predators that consisted of a punk boy with green dyed hair, a dark-skinned boy with curly hair as white as his eyes, and a girl in a black, purple, and blue stereotypical witch minus the hat attire.

And the lions were carrying two unconscious gazelles in their nightwear.

Following the security protocol, a squad of Hun kids filled the front rows and aimed their guns, axes, swords, and other weapons at the intruders. Ben made his way through the crowd. "You're surrounded!" He shouted. "As king of Auradon, I demand that we do this peacefully! Please, release the hostages!"

"Whatever," the punk boy rolled his eyes. He glanced at the white-eyed boy, who dropped Martin next to the girl's feet and began to agitate himself. His body began to turn into dull color and texture like a sack used to make ragdolls, and he screamed an inhuman scream as he suddenly grew ten feet tall and his toes and his fingers merged together to make him look like a monster with needles sharper and thicker than tree trunks for arms and legs. His hair and eyes vanished, giving him the face of a wrapped mummy with a cruel grin bearing fangs that smiled at the horrified crowd.

"HOLLOWGAST!" Ingwer shouted from somewhere in the crowd.

The hollowgast, as was its species, roared at the terrified crowd and unleashed tentacles of tongues at the Hun kids, sending most of them flying into other people or even fences. Mal tried to cast a spell on the hollowgast.

" _Beware for swear..._ " She got cut off when the punk boy managed to steal one of the Huns' wooden clubs and hit the daughter of Maleficent straight in the head.

"Mal!" Ben lunged at the punk boy, who just punched him hard in the stomach to make him fall on the ground. Jessie took the opportunity of sneaking behind him in the hopes of hitting him with a hammer, but he managed to grab her by the wrist and twisted it, causing her to scream in pain and let go of the hammer as he twisted it even harder.

"Let her go, you big bully!" Minuit aimed a magic blast at him just to get intercepted by the black blast of the witchy girl and harm Minuit instead.

"Not..." Penna suddenly felt herself burning. "On..." Her remaining needles shook through her skin. "My... **BABIES!** " With unimaginable speed, she threw her fists at the punk and the witch instantly. The first let go of Jessie, but while his comrade screamed from the blow she just got in the stomach, he hardly flinched. He didn't even seem to freak out when Penna, with her eyes literally burning with fury, squeezed his neck with her nails threatening to pierce through his skin.

"Hopefully you have a good reason for me to not just crushing your neck!" she hissed. Her squeezing increased until Marius and Daylight flew in and pulled her by the arms, restraining her. "Let me go!" She said angrily.

"Penna, stop it!" Marius shouted. "You're not a murderer!"

"Then you obviously don't know your own girlfriend," the punk boy commented. He still held Lonnie over his shoulder, and it was just hard for anyone to imagine how on earth he managed to both fight people while holding a hostage at the same time. Meanwhile, the hollowgast marched just above him and hissed its tongues at Penna, daring it to attack his friend once again.

"Penna, hold yourself together..." Daylight warned.

"They harmed my... **BABIES!** " She yanked the two hybrids off her and roared. The crowd gasped when they saw that not only was she now the furious Penna De Mort they all knew, but something old was growing out of her back.

"Her...her wings!" Jessie gasped despite her twisted wrist as they all watched Penna fly towards the hollowgast and fought it with her bare hands. Some flinched when they saw that even without her magic, you do NOT want to piss off Penna De Mort in a hand-to-hand combat. Even the punk and the witch flinched at the sight.

"You and your brilliant ideas!" The witchy girl whined to the punk boy in a thick German accent.

"Whatever."

Penna threw the hollowgast onto a vehicle and tackled it with a headlock.

"Should we...calm her down?" Daylight asked nervously to Minuit.

"Unless we want have the country to be her new battlefield," Minuit said.

The hollowgast then did something unexpected: it morphed one of its needle hands back into a hand and slashed Penna on the cheek with his sharp fingernails. The impact weakened Penna and she instantly fell to the ground, looking as helpless as the two hostages while the hollowgast reverted the hand back into a large needle.

"Penna!" Marius flew and grabbed Penna out of the way before the monster could try impaling her.

"OK, it's time you cool off, pal!" Forkjølelse Vinter shot an ice blast at the hollowgast, only it was agile to dodge it and ended up freezing Napoleon Moriarty instead. "Oops."

Florence Poison Isley hit the ground in the hopes that one of her small earthquakes of vines would restrain them, but the witch just used her magic to create force fields over them, making the rest injured.

"Let's get the Hell out of here," the punk boy said. He picked up an unconscious Martin and threw him over his other shoulder while the hollowgast picked him and the witch up with its arms, giving them a ride over the now screaming crowd.

"Great," Marius mumbled. "Now what do we do?"

As if he asked for a miracle, a jet of green muck hit the punk and the witch off the hollowgast, gluing them to the ground like cement while Marius and Daylight flew to catch Martin and Lonnie respectively. Ruby and Gilliard jumped in the scene, with the son of Gill wiping his mouth from the remains of the green muck he had just spit. But Ruby looked even more dangerous when she pulled out a bat-fashioned tranquilizer gun from her nightrobe, the punk boy suddenly chuckled nervously.

"You wouldn't shoot an old friend and fellow thief, would you?" He asked.

"Normally, I'd only shoot once," Ruby said in an out of character calm tone, "but since my such good old friend tried to kidnap _my boyfriend_ , I'll be generous." She shot three times in his groin, shocking most of the surrounding males. The punk couldn't even scream or bend over since Gill's muck had him strapped to the ground and the three darts Ruby just shot at him put him in a sleeping mode.

"DWIGHT!" the witch girl shouted while she struggled to get out of her restrains. She was calling to the hollowgast, who began to turn its attention to Ruby. But before it could attempt to attack her, it stopped and sniffed the air.

"Dwight!" His accomplice shouted. But 'Dwight' was too busy crawling on all fours and sniffing the air in search for the scent it seemed to have picked. Students moved out of the way for the monster as it continued sniffing until it reached the source of the scent. One of the VKs was standing there, looking calm in her black-and-white polka dotted pajamas as she held a button-designed silver soup bowl with a hot, steaming red colored soup in it. The hollowgast crawled slowly as it approached her and inhaled the scent of the soup, giving a big toothy grin as it licked its missing lips with its multiple tongues.

"Hungry, aren't you?" Otrera Beldam asked him sweetly as she brought the bowl closer to the beast. It sniffed and grinned even wider, giving a strange pleasing purr. "Of course it's your favorite. Do you want it?"

"Dwight, are you that much of that Stockholm syndrome victim?" the witchy girl snapped. "That's the Other Mother's offspring! She's just trying to honey-talk you out of our job!"

'Dwight' seemed to complete discard his associate's comment and preferred to give a begging nod to Otrera. "Open wide," she said.

Everyone watched in awe as 'Dwight' opened its mouth for Otrera to gently pour in the soup, making the creature unleash a series of pleasant moans. The more Otrera fed it, the more it reverted back into his original human appearance, only now Dwight was pleasantly blinking his white eyes at Otrera's button ones.

"We're screwed," the witchy girl muttered.

 _The next day_

"We get paralyzed and nearly kidnapped, and the only thing that the bad guys get are being locked in the gym?" Lonnie muttered as she continued to pat her head with the ice pack that she and Martin got once they recovered.

News had gone all over the campus and even out in half the country that mysterious VKs unknown to those from the Isle had tried kidnapping the daughter of Mulan and the son of Monkey Fist and that Penna De Mort ended up growing her wings back out. If Havoc Discord from St Luther didn't have such a fascination for turning roads into caramel quicksand, the campus would have been flooded instead with the paparazzi.

"Easy for you to complain...OW!" Martin patted his forehead with his ice pack while he and Ruby sat on one of the picnic tables in the courtyard and the latter tried to bring back Martin's senses by massaging him on his puncture joints.

Ronilda came in with Melgo and Gladiola in her human size. "You guys, OK? We heard about the kidnapping attempt," Melgo said.

"I've seen a bunch of weird things in my life, but this is just weirder," Gilliard said as he pulled out a paper pad with scrambled notes and cartoony doodles of the three teens who were now locked up in the gym and were the reason for classes being cancelled as well as the music event. "Three VKs that never came from the Isle? This is would be epic if they hadn't tried to kidnap my best friend." He gasped. "Maybe it's the sign of my theory concerning the cloning apocalypse!"

"He believes that the world's going to end with scientists trying to create clone duplicates of everyone rather than reproduce live births." Martin rolled his eyes.

"Science created my dad into Gill and the mutation got transferred into me!" Gilliard pointed out. "Anything can happen!"

Ruby sighed in frustration at Gilliard's ridiculous philosophy. "They're from the Raft, obviously."

"You heard about it too?" Ronilda asked in shock.

"I could ask you the same thing," Ruby replied coldly.

"Will you too just stop?" Martin muttered quietly. "So, both of you know about the Raft. Big whoop, you got something in common. But please, for once, can you stop bickering and give my poor head a break?"

His current and ex girlfriends blinked, trying to register what he just said.

"So, what's the Raft?" Lonnie asked.

"It's an underwater prison created to hold villains that not even the Isle Of The Lost's barrier could contain," Gladiola answered Lonnie's question. Ronilda gawked, causing her bonded Troll to roll her eyes. "You forgot that I was napping in your hair back when Nicki Fury told you this stuff and you two played detectives with Sternia."

"What does Snape's daughter have to do with this?" Martin asked.

"Because during her depression after Principal Melchior unfairly expelled her from the mandrake root fiasco, she overheard three voices with suspicious plans before they disappeared," Ronilda explained. "And then during the Easter Festival, we went to check your kitchen with Nicki and found that the Tiger Breath explosion came from a plate full of incense hidden underneath one of your floor tiles..."

Martin's head perked up at the mention of a plate. "Was it a china plate with the Swedish Alps on it?"

"Booyah."

Martin facepalmed himself and got up. "It's official. My life is over."

Before anyone could say anything else, Mr. Barkin and Shari, who had just come from the area in the school where the gym was located, accosted them. "What happened back there?" Ronilda asked.

"The King played another one of his touchy feeling antics," Barkin said firmly. When he saw the students just blinking at them, he said in better English: "The newest delinquents are being placed under a combination of rehabilitation and house arrest."

"Only it's more like school arrest," Shari pointed out.

"Ben's letting them in Auradon Prep?" Gilliard exclaimed. "OK, I get the dude's belief in 'I want to give VKs a chance in good', but we don't even know these guys!"

"I agree with Gilliard here." Lonnie put down her ice pack. "For crying out loud, I was dragged _in my nightgown_ , _paralyzed_ , and with my _bare butt near the face of the guy who happened to have punched Ben in the stomach!_ "  
"That's Aaron for you." Ruby shrugged.

"Aaron?" they all said.

"OK, time out." Shari made the time out symbol with her hands. "How come you know this guy, Alley Cat?"

Ruby bit her lips and scowled, which could only mean one thing to the others. Whatever happened between her and this guy was back when she used to be the vigilante mercenary Shadow Seeker.

"Aaron was caught by a bunch of underground crooks planning on adding him to their human cargo for human trafficking. Since most of the victims were abducted kids, the parents willingly offered to pay me big time for each kid I saved," Ruby explained. "While I was able to smuggle out the other kids through the sewage system beneath the warehouse they were held in, I had a hard time freeing Aaron. Apparently the crooks found out he was an imprisoned villain's kid, and with the proper shackles and connections, they could have easily bribed the government into giving them a million dollars for the capture of a supposedly escaped villain."

"So, you helped him escape too." Gladiola said.

"Yep. In the end, I got the cash I was promised, but when I asked Aaron where his parents were, he told me his dad was locked up in prison and Aaron escaped in the hopes of finding a good place worth living with his dad after he broke out the latter, so I..."

"You didn't!" Melgo exclaimed.

"I split my cash in half with him. We went our separate ways and a week later, I find out he was arrested and they confiscated his money. I paid him a late evening visit at the jail they held him in before shipping him back to his prison and I said: 'Sorry you have to go back to the Isle.' He then said: 'I'm not from the Isle but the Raft. Consider yourself lucky if you end up in the Isle, because the place is Hell itself.'" She sighed. "That was the last time I saw him."

"So you're hardly friends with him." Martin grinned a bit. "What a relief."

"Paranoid much?" Gilliard joked.

"Am not!" Martin protested, making his cheeks burn in a red color just like the red on his martial arts uniform.

"You freak out whenever your girlfriend interacts with other guys, including teachers like Mr. Barkin!" Gilliard pointed at Barkin, who merely got a suspicious glance from Shari. Martin just slumped back on his chair, crossed his arms, and pouted, causing the others to giggle.

 _Later, at lunch_

Normally, anyone who's been training hard for a Pride Games event in particular would be infuriated when the event was cancelled and lash out at somebody in particular. But today was a rare exception.

True, almost all the students from the two schools were freaked out about having at least one guard in each hallway keep an eye on three free criminals who had recently attempted to kidnap two students (one who fought the forces of evil and saved the world and the other being a walking host of ancient power), but at the same time they were all curious. Just like the VKs from the Isle knew each other by heart, their friends from Auradon Prep and St Luther knew them as well as one person would know every single clothes in his closet, and the three new VKs were like three individual socks that just appeared out of nowhere. Who were their parents? Why did nobody ever hear from them? So far, the only details they could get last night were that they were dealing with a paranoid witch, a hollowgast who seemed to have developed an infatuation for the daughter of the Other Mother after she gave him soup, and a punk who had no problem kicking the butts of the king of Auradon himself.

Ben and Fairy Godmother had tried interrogating them since dawn, but the three of them didn't give details as to why they tried kidnapping Lonnie and Martin. The only things they got from them were their names and the hollowgast shyly asking if he could see Otrera again.

"Aaron Duncan, Dwight Barron, and Leona Ernst," Ben said at lunch when some kids at lunch had gone to him and asked about the three VKs, who had decided to exclude themselves from the other students and Leona had cast a force field around the trio. "That's what they said their names were."

"Ernst?" Ingwer frowned and tapped her fingers on the table she was sitting at. "Why does that name ring a bell?"

"Maybe it's one of your mother's cousins?" Sean suggested.

"My mom doesn't have any cousins." They looked at the trio. Leona looked like a normal fourteen-year-old girl with Caucasian skin almost white enough to make her look feverish, a black sundress with a night blue gypsy shirt underneath it, purple elbow-length opera gloves, feminine black shoes, and blue and purple striped thigh high socks. Her dark hair was cut just above her shoulders and curled up just near her ears and topped with her witch hat. Aside from his white hair and eyes and dark-skin tone, Dwight was a sixteen-year-old boy with scholar white robes underneath a blue leather waistcoat, purple pants, black running boots, and a pair of black shades resting on his hair. As for Aaron, the obvious leader of the group, was the eldest and surprisingly old enough to be out of high school. His skin was peach-toned and his eyes in a blue icier than the blueberry soda the lunch menu had. The right side of his head had shaven strands of black hair while the left side was tilted into five dreadlocks dyed in three different colors of lime green and, which not only made each dreadlock look like the sharp quills of a porcupine but also as if no matter where the light him, the shadows on his green hair looked like they were purposely dyed this way. His beige and mud green T-Shirt had a camouflage fashion, only he wore a dark grey shirt underneath it New England style. His grey crocodile scaled belt held up a baggy teal pant with blue spike designs at the ends while his feet wore red and grey running shoes. His main accessories included a nose ring, three earrings on his left ear, and a spiked collar necklace matching his pants' color, and his goatee was particularly shaven to look like three vertical lines. Overall, if there was one thing in common his body and his clothes shared, it was a dark skull motif he had on his T-shirt, the elbow areas of his grey shirt, the pockets of his pants, and as a tattoo design on half the left side of his neck.

Out of those three, it was pretty evident that while Dwight and Leona may have magical powers that could disadvantage Aaron, he had enough ruthlessness and cunningness to jump at them and crack their limbs if he wanted to.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die," Leona began to mutter and scratch her face. "Great. My mask is itching."

"Keep whining and I'll give you your last facial," Aaron said crossly, making Leona sink back in her seat.

"Yeah, she's definetly not your cousin," Sean ended up concluding with Ingwer.

"So...who wants to say something first?" Ben asked. Nobody said anything or they just stuck to whistling and eating their meals.

Karl and Otrera stepped towards them with a cart full of food-invested dishes. The trio looked at the food and put their hands to their stomachs, failing to hide their gurgling stomachs. "You guys seemed rather hungry, so we cooked something up for you," Karl said with a smile. "Of course, we can't feed you with that thing out." He pointed at the force field.

"I'd rather starve," Aaron said coldly.

"Suit yourself. Dwight, would you like some more of that eyeball soup?" Otrera asked Dwight, who instantly got excited.

"D...did she just say 'eyeball soup?'' Audrey tried very hard not to throw into the quiche she was eating.

"Hollowgasts just love to eat eyeballs," Ingwer said, making Audrey hold her mouth even more. Meanwhile, Dwight nodded to Leona, who nervously snapped her fingers and caused the force field to disappear, leaving Karl and Otrera the opportunity to give these two their meals while Aaron just sat there with his arms crossed, biting his lips in frustration as he watched Dwight feast on his new favorite soup and Leona wolf down on a cheese and mushroom omelet that Karl had made.

"This is _so_ good!" Leona mumbled with her mouth full. "You really go to try this stuff, Aaron."

"Yes. After eating food poisoning meals back on the Raft, I'm just going to try out the food made by our hosts who just happen to know that your favorite food is a cheese and mushroom omelet," Aaron said coldly. "Once again, I'd rather starve."

"Suit yourself," Otrera shrugged. "Oh, and if you don't eat, I'm sure I know a VK or two who won't mind force-feeding you cursed food until you bloat because you tried to kidnapped two of their friends."

Aaron was scowling.

"She's gotta point. We've also got at least one cannibal around here," Karl said while pointing at Chronos Vonreptile, who was sharping his teeth with his knife while staring at the Hook twins, who shivered and ran away to the farthest table. "Bet ya the guy won't mind breaking his codfish diet for just one day... OUCH!" Karl yelped when a standing Aaron, who revealed his height to be close to six feet tall and eight inches, pulled his hair. He was not taller than a basketball player, but he could surely scare an entire team with his attitude.

"Will you _please_ shut up if I agree to eat this mush?" Aaron said the magic word with so much difficulty, it was as if his bad boy persona was desperately trying to crush his polite manners begging to eat.

"Yes..." Karl squeaked. Aaron let go of Karl's hair, giving the latter the chance to quickly put a plate full of cooked peas and a chicken and black bean burrito and make a run for it with his cart. Many watched as Aaron suspiciously poked the burrito before finally deciding to bite in the dough-covered Mexican junk food and eat in silence.

"Is he always like this?" Otrera asked Dwight Barron quietly in order to avoid provoking the punk.

"He's a lot worse if you mention the CITs," Dwight shook his head. When Dwight spoke, his voice was like the one of a sassy African-American actor who was trying to cool down after too many years of movies and paparazzi. "Especially when you're purposely trying to annoy him."

"He's afraid of counselors in training?"

Dwight and Leone quickly glanced at each other and then at Aaron, who gave them a cold _drop it_ glare.

"I said nothing," Dwight sighed.

Some of the other students glared at Ben, who chuckled nervously. The sound of water tapping in the windows gave out that they were now stuck with the showers of rain outside.

"Anybody want to watch TV?" Grinchelda waved a small remote in her hand as she stepped inside the cafeteria. "I just managed to create a channel hacker so that we can watch any international channel we want."

"Isn't that, you know, illegal?" Audrey asked, nervously glancing at the guards keeping an eye out on the trio.

"No, it's watching whatever you want on TV for free," Grinchelda said with a smug.

"Why does that sound _so_ familiar?" Aaron said bitterly.

"OK, whatever you do," Dwight cautiously raised his hand as a warning sign to the others, "do _not_ ask or talk about Texas." Many gulped at his comment.

"Ugh! I hate Texas!" Grinchelda rolled her eyes.

For the first time in like a minimum of twelve hours, Aaron blinked. "You do?"

"Seriously, it's the worst cowboy land I've ever been to! Last summer I went there with Ronilda and her uncle Slim and Melgo's parents while my parents were out on their fourteenth half-anniversary. We went to this evening karaoke Hoedown Throwdown party, and as soon as I started dancing and yodeling my dad's tune, we got chased with pitchfork-wielding sheriff because everyone thought I was some sort of cattle stealing yodeling freak! Not only was I banned from Santa Anna but now Texas is the second state in Auradon I can't put my foot in!"

Aaron looked in some sort of cold relief at Dwight, who just shrugged.

"Hang on," Leona asked. "If Texas is the second state you're banned from, then what's the first?"

"Kansas," the daughter of the Grinch muttered. "Never go fly your sled there during a school outing, otherwise all the farmers will start believing your a green-skinned witch trying to ruin the corn harvests."

Leona nodded in agreement.

"You guys got any channels of preference?" Grinchelda showed her remote. "As long as it's not a show with hair salon advertisements, I'm good."

"I'd kill for a hair salon. Or actual hair." Leona put her hand on her long dark locks and pulled it , making everyone gasp when they saw that her head was smoothly, ghastly hairless, and covered with awful red scratches.

"Wow!" Grinchelda exclaimed. "Seriously, you guys don't have any doctors that work on people with cancer where you're from? This is an outrage! Where are our rights for healthcare?"

"That's horrible!" Audrey agreed.

"Should I do it?" Leona scratched her chin while talking to Aaron.

"You'd better hope Dwight makes a good lawyer," Aaron said with a flat shrug. The witchy girl sighed as she put her hands behind each ear and began to oddly pull of something matching her skin color as if she were removing a facial mask. But when her eyes, lips, and other facial features seemed to move off with the coat, they realized that Leona's face was actually a mask. Most of the cheerleaders present in the room yelped and fainted when they saw that Leona's face was actually full of wrinkles outlining each of her skull's edges and covered with dried out white skin. Her real eyes were bigger but with smaller dark irises, giving her a psychotic look. She had absolutely no eyebrows, her lips were cracked, and her nostrils were rather big. Just adding in her baldness made her look even scarier.

"Now I know why the last name rang a bell." Ingwer facepalmed herself. "You're the daughter of Eva Ernst, the Grand High Witch."

"Yay." Leona then bursted into tears. "Go on, laugh at me! I'm ugly!"

"You sure are," Aaron said.

"Can you go to the bathroom?" Dwight spat.

"Sure can." Aaron got up and headed for the boys' bathroom, hissing at the guards who gave him warning glances. Dwight and Leona, despite the latter's crying, sighed in relief.

"Finally! I thought I wouldn't get another Aaron reprieve!" Dwight said as he stretched his arms.

"But if he's such a bully, why do you follow him around?" Otrera asked while Evie gave Leona a tissue to dry off her tears and helped her put her mask and wig back on, making her look back to her usual disguised self.

"Nah, Aaron's no bully. He's just what we call a bad reformee back at the Raft," Dwight said as he finished the rest of his soup. "He pulls a bad boy act all the time just because he doesn't like admitting he has a soft side."

"The punk boy who twisted the wrist of the Joker's daughter, hit the daughter of Maleficent with a club, and punched the king in the stomach... _nice_?" Grinchelda rolled her eyes.

"Yep. Just like how your dad was green-hairy eight-year-old who drew pictures of Santa's sleigh exploding in midair yet he was so sweet enough to make out of scratch a Christmas present for your mom," Leona said.

Grinchelda gasped. "How did you know that?"

"The Raft has the largest control room in all of Auradon with computers and screens showing live footage all over the worlds," Dwight explained. He wiped off the remains of his soup sticking on his lips with one his several tongues. "Only one of our inmates has the right to permanently use it."

"They let a prisoner have access to all the security footage?" Ben put his hands on the table, demanding more information since they were now talking freely. "How on earth is this safe?"

"Probably because the only thing that Texas does in that room is amuse herself in watching random people get into embarrassing situations or hack into the international networks just to broadcast anonymously the insulting videos." Leona turned her head to the security camera that stood on one corner of the ceiling. She stood up on the table and angrily pointed her finger at it. "You hear me, McLean?" She shouted. "I bet you're enjoying this right now while your little Cookie serves you a yummy coconut sundae on your plushy couch in the control room!"

"McLean? As in _Chris McLean from TOTAL DRAMA_?" Grinchelda pulled out her phone. "I got to brag about this on the fan blog!"

"What's TOTAL DRAMA?" Evie asked, since she was still catching up to the existing TV shows in Auradon.

"It was this reality show where a bunch of teenage contestants do wacky challenges, get eliminated, and the last one standing wins a ton of cash!" Grinchelda yelped in excitement. "MONBOY#1 just comment my post! ' _Seriously, TD is so like the best show ever! Can't believe that the loony Chris has a kid!_ '" She typed back. "OMG! Remember that episode where he got his house blown up? That was like totally epic!"

"Just tell Aaron that you liked how his dad blew up McLean's house, I'm sure he'll forget you being a fan of the show," Leona smirked. Unfortunately, Leona's comment made Grinchelda squeal even more.

"OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!" She hopped so high to the point that she ended up bouncing all over the walls until one of the Troll teens used his hair to catch her and bring her back to the solid ground. "Aaron is the son of Duncan the Delinquent? He's like one of my favorite TD contestants." Her phone beeped and she answered it. "' _Yeah! That's like my favorite episode in season 5! Shame loony Chris put Duncan the Delinquent in jail!_ ' Oh, well guess what, MONBOY#1! Duncan's got a..."

WHAM!

Grinchelda fell unconscious on the ground after Mina used her empty tray to hit Grinchelda on the head. She pulled out a small gray gun out of her pocket and aimed it at Grinchelda. A blue ray hit the green girl and turned her into a glowing blue ice cube.

"I'm going to rehydrate Grinch back at the dorms," she sighed and left the cafeteria.

"So, why was the show cancelled?" Otrera asked Dwight as she handed him and Leona small plates full of mini strawberry tarts, which got them excited.

"Animal abuse, teenage harassment, illegal non-tolerated lawyers, radioactive exposure, and physically and mentally breaking anyone who's been on the show," Dwight listed with his fingers. "Chris McLean was then arrested when the countries united, but because he was among the few villains who couldn't be contained by the Isle's barrier, he was incarcerated in our beloved underwater prison. He whined all the way until the guards got sick of it and allowed him three privileges."

"What privileges?" Ben asked.

"A pompous house in the First Sector, access to the control room, and that his least favorite TD contestants got incarcerated as well."

"But that's not fair!" Audrey said in shock.

"Frankly, the contestants that ended up in the Raft were just the rotten ones who still bugged him," Leona listed as well. "I mean, we've got the 'manipulative' Heather and Alejandro Buerromuerto because their making out annoyed McLean, and now their kid Holly works as a performer in one of the First Sector clubs..."

"Ezekiel got stuck with his kid in a Third Sector cell because he tried dipping McLean in a toxic waste tub," Dwight added.

"And just for accidently getting McLean's head stuck in a toilet, Scott and his kid Scarlett are stuck at working in the First Sector Aquarium."

"He was pretty cruel with Courtney. I mean, yeah, she's annoying and bratty and she unfairly used her lawyers on him, but forcing her in a Third Sector cell while her daughter Carly lives all by herself in the First Sector orphanage? That's brutal!"

"At least she didn't get any bad maternal influence." Leona tapped her forehead. "Hello, have you seen what's behind my face? And that happened five seconds after she cut my cord off my stomach?"

Audrey had to cover her mouth in order to avoid throwing up and Jay gently patted her on the shoulder as a sign to hold on.

"And what about Aaron's dad?" Otrera asked. "What was loony McLean's excuse for shipping Duncan the Delinquent and Son to the Raft?"

Dwight gave an amused chuckle and wink at Otrera, making her slightly blush. "Funny. That's exactly the name of the garage they run in the First Sector. To answer your question, Duncan the Delinquent was the contestant that Chris McLean bugged the most and suffered major backstabbing. The dude only tried out for the first season of TD just to get out of juvie, but McLean then forced him to unwillingly continue in the next seasons because he was both one of the most long-lasting competitors and very popular among the fans for his tough-bad-boy-exterior-yet-soft-insides persona. And Duncan tried like everything to get out while at the same time trying to win a million dollars."

"He did win the cash in TOTAL DRAMA ACTION." Leona sighed. "No comments on what happened to it."

"Dirty player, pyromaniac, willing to fight back a fake psycho-killer with a chainsaw, bike builder," Dwight listed, "broke up with two girls, bullied, occasionally cheated, quit the show at the beginning of the third season because he didn't want to sing but McLean hunted him down...Honestly, McLean deserved it when the Delinquent blew up his house in season 5. Tragically, that ended up with Duncan's elimination and a transfer from juvie to local prison."

"Once the countries united, Duncan the Delinquent was held under brief supervision while he and some other 'bad reformees' were to be trialed for their Anti-Heroic Resumé," Leona continued for Dwight. "But thanks to Chris McLean annoying security with his demands, Duncan the Delinquent was forced onto the Raft. Aaron was hardly five months old when it happened."

"That trial _should_ have taken place," Ben sounded irritated. Sure, Aaron Duncan had led a kidnapping attempt on two of his friends, but still, that situation was unfair.

"Sorry pal, that case was closed nineteen years ago." Dwight shrugged.

"He's nineteen?" Ben gasped. No wonder Aaron Duncan was the leader of the trio.

"I just have one little question." Otrera sweetly blinked at Dwight Barron, making him madly blush. "Why did you try kidnapping Lonnie and Martin?"

Leona instantly gagged Dwight's mouth with her hand. "Don't! Zemo will have our hides! Or worse, his new boss will!"

" _Zemo_?" One of the VKs marched his way through and grabbed Leona by the neck, raising her just high enough for her to barely touch the floor. A guard ran over along with Ben, Madison Hatter, and Amelia Hall in the hopes of making him let go of the witch he was threatening to suffocate.

"Zeniko Zemo? Is he still alive? And on the Raft?" Franz Schmitz, the son of the Red Skull shouted at Leona. "Tell me now!"

"I...I can't!" She whimpered.

"Franz, pal?" Madison grabbed his friend's left arm. "If you strangle her, she won't tell you."

"I will if you let her go." Dwight stood up from his seat and walked over to Franz, who instantly let go of Leona and snapped at Dwight. "Talk."

"Before you do," Noir told Dwight as she got up from her seat and addressed Franz, "are we talking Zeniko Zemo as in _Baron Zemo_ 's son Zeniko?"

"You know him too?" Franz calmed down a little.

"Only by reputation and rumors that go through supervillains," the daughter of Blackfire said sternly. "I just know that he's the son of the original creator of HYDRA, leader of a gang called the ZAM-Trio...and rather pathetic."

"How is the leader of a terrorist group 'pathetic'?" Audrey asked in confusion.

"Back in the days, Zeniko was a terrifying HYDRA co-leader with his father Baron Zemo and the other two members of his ZAM-Trio at his side," Franz explained. "With their powers combined along with their sadistic hearts bloodier than Hell, they terrified everyone in HYDRA. Even my father the Red Skull didn't dare to argue with Zeniko and his forces."

"But the most terrifying part about the ZAM-Trio alone?" Madison said ominously. "Not only are his accomplices lethal dangerous and mostly killing people for sport like Zeniko, the only thing these two did that he personally didn't was assassinate their own parents with their bare hands because they didn't want their powerful natures to be overpowered by their parents'."

"Penna tried to kill Voldemort," Evie pointed out.

"Not the same." Franz shook his head. "De Mort tried to kill the Dark Lord because she was tired of being his abused slave. Zeniko's accomplices' parents were nothing like Voldemort. They were said to be loving towards their children and gave them great guidance and training so that they could create great evil destinies for themselves. And their kids repaid them for their generous evil training how? By murdering them in order to get them out of their way and mark a new step in their lives."

Even the guards gasped at a description of such evil.

"So yeah, they were pretty cruel," Madison said. "But then three or four years ago, Zeniko's flame got sprayed on. No one in HYDRA knows who it was because Zeniko had his gang kill anyone who asked, but the only thing we ever got to know was that whoever wrecked his reputation also made him lose an arm and his father."

"That's when we all began to realize that he was just a pompous idiot who bossed us around and yet, by not being able to keep his left arm and his father alive, he was ruining the HYDRA reputation," Franz nodded. "So my father organized a mutiny against him and the ZAM-Trio got kicked out of HYDRA. We never heard from them since. We assumed they were hiding to get revenge on getting kicked out, but since we never heard about what happened to them, we concluded that they must have gone on the Isle Of The Lost. But then when _we_ were shipped there, my father sent troops to search everywhere in the city. The Huns even let us investigate, but the ZAM-Trio weren't there."

He looked at Dwight, who nodded and gave him the answer. "You're right. They ended up arrested and shipped in the Raft, not because the barrier couldn't contain them, but because Nick Fury and all those who knew about the secret prison was afraid that Zeniko's rage and obsession would wreak havoc among the villains on the Isle."

"His rage and obsession?" Ben asked.

"Zeniko Zemo was not angry at HYDRA for rebelling against him. No, he was enraged at the one who ruined his life in the first place when he killed Baron Zemo and destroyed Zeniko's arm to the point where he had to get an artificial bionic one. Like a bloody game of cat and mouse, Zeniko and his gang hunted down his arch-foe for years, murdering any remaining underground criminal who might be connected to his hated enemy.

"Then just last year or so, the ZAM-Trio failed yet another attempt to catch the sneaky prey and the authorities caught them. They were locked up in Third Sector cells, which are usually reserved for the most lethal prisoners in the Raft. We villains from the First and Second Sectors knew that we wouldn't be safe unless they stayed in their cells until just last month, when the Pride Games were announced, someone managed to neutralize the security and break the ZAM-Trio out of the Third Sector. While they broke out, they took the opportunity of releasing all the Third Sector villains and force the guards to obey them and give them a submarine to go to Auradon unless they wanted their families killed."

The students gasped. A prison out of control and run by villains who were even more dangerous than those on the Isle? To think that having peace was impossible.

"Zeniko's new boss had just one condition for the gang and that was to bring him back some new chew toys from Auradon Prep," Dwight continued. "The only cough in all this contagious story is that, while Zeniko wanted to fill his part of the deal, he was more obsessed with revenge, so after they failed to bring what he wanted, especially after Zeniko was busy blackmailing his foe, their boss decided to go to plan B." He stopped talking. He and Leona suddenly began to have desperate looks in their eyes.

Otrera knew what that meant since her own mother did it once. "Zemo's new boss threatened to harm your parents."

"My father, Leona's mother, and Aaron's father," Dwight confessed. "The monster never showed his face to us when he blackmailed us, but when he had Texas McLean show us a video of our parents being dragged to the Third Sector...I'm sorry, but we were forced to bring him Fa Li and Fiske before the Pride Games were over or he'd kill our parents."

"But why? Why does he want them?" Mal asked. "And if Zeniko is more interested in killing his arch-foe than doing what his new boss asked..."

"You don't get it, do you?"

The sudden voice of Aaron Duncan, who was leaning on the doorway and listening to the conversation without getting noticed, got everyone's attention.

"Zeniko Zemo's arch-foe, the one who destroyed his arm and killed Baron Zemo through the ancient illegal seven chakra blocking technique," he said sternly, "was Martin Fiske."


	26. Flights And Serums

Chapter 26: Flights And Serums

Penna crashed once more onto the tourney field. At this rate, she'd be getting scratches all over her face by the time she'd regain her ability to fly and keep her balance properly.

Indeed, she had gotten her wings back, but once she had regained her senses after the kidnapping attempt, Penna had tripped the moment she tried to step up and crashed onto the sidewalk when she tried flying from her front door. Her current inability to walk had cost her to move around in crutches until lunchtime, which she spent at the tourney field by getting assistance for getting her flying ability restored to its usual habits.

"For someone who spent a hundred years with wings and just had them off for like a quarter of a year, you kinda are a bad flyer," Frieda Denada Cortés from St Luther commented as she came with Penna's crutches and helped the poor girl climb back up the bleachers to the top row, where Marius, Daylight, and Frieda's half brother Cornelius Denada Cortés stood. They were all trying to help her get her flying back. The Denada Cortés siblings had offered to help since not only did they also have wings based on those of bats like Penna's demonic ones, but their father was Fidget the Bat, a humanoid bat reformee known for being both peg-legged and bearing a crippled wing, so his children had inherited a few flying issues that they learned to deal with through training.

"I hope it's not something that your father ruined as well," Marius sighed after he recommended that they took five. They all sat down and drank from the water bottles that Cornelius had brought over in order to fight off the warm sunshine.

"It's hopeless! I might as well be a bat flying at daytime without the capacity of using its sonar ears!" Penna dropped her face in her hands.

"We've tried everything," Daylight said. She pinched her nose while Marius gently hugged his girlfriend, who smiled a bit at his touch. "We tried the ways the fairies fly back home, the basic flying routines, Frieda and Cornelius' basic training for handicapped fliers, and we can't even keep you on two feet!"

"Maybe we're thinking too physical here?" Cornelius suggested.

They blinked at him in confusion until they noticed Kit and Junk having one of their petty arguments at the opposite set of bleachers. Surprisingly, the scratching the twins' fists made on the metal gave a strange rhythm.

Cornelius: _Who said this was all about physics?_

 _We ain't looking deep enough here._

 _This might just a question of mystics._

 _This could make that flying problem disappear._

"He might be right!" Frieda got up in agreement.

"I fail to see how he can be right," Penna grumbled before Frieda grabbed her by the chin in order to make her look at her.

Frieda: _Can't use more than one word_

 _To describe what made Penna De Mort._

 _What made fly this dark girl_

 _When she used to spin lives in a swirl?_

 _It ain't muscles, I recall,_

 _But an emotional struggle that rose from the fall._

 _You sprung your wings when your mind boiled,_

 _So girl what happened then after ya life got destroyed?_

The siblings then jumped in the air and flew above ground in circles, making Penna feel like she was being watched over by a hypnotic dark eye floating in the blue sky.

Both: _Flight with magic. Flight with magic._

 _Your answer was your talented trick._

Cornelius: _Flight with magic. Flight with magic._

Frieda: _We know magic made your life tragic_

 _And it made you rotten to the core._

 _But you don't have to answer the evil call no more._

"Are you nuts?" Penna exclaimed. "I can't use my magic to fly! You want me to turn evil again?"

"Magic _doesn't_ make people evil," Cornelius said while poking his own chest with one of his fingers. "It's how you _use_ it that makes you good or bad."

Penna thought of his words as her eyes looked down at the bracelet she had on her right wrist in order to hold back her magic. Only she could see that ever since six of her Kraken Acupuncture Needles got removed, small glowing green cracks had begun to merge. Maybe the loss of those tooth-like chains she had on her for life was losing their control on her powers as well.

She sighed and got up. The Fae Realm cousins watched her climb back up to the top of the bleachers. Penna stood straight, felt the wind whistling in her ears, and saw the Denada Cortés siblings fly just a few feet ahead of her. If she could do it, she could run all the way to the end of the bleacher, jump off, and fly.

Cornelius: _It's never too late_

 _To try, but it's not healthy to wait._

 _The past shouldn't be such a crutch._

 _Think more about the future you want so much._

 _Just think on how you'll use your magic_

 _Once your wings make you fly off so agile._

Penna got herself ready and took a deep breath.

Both: _Flight with magic. Flight with magic._

 _Your answer was your talented trick._

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Marius looked nervously at his girlfriend as she started to slowly run towards the end of the bleacher before speeding up.

Cornelius: _Flight with magic. Flight with magic._

Frieda: _We know magic made your life tragic_

Penna ran faster and unfolded her wings while the bracelet cracked even more. Her foot finally reached the end of the bleacher and she jumped.

 _And it made you rotten to the core._

 _But you don't have to answer the evil call no more._

The bracelet exploded, creating a blast of green rays that engulfed Penna as she flew higher in the sky and in a clockwise rotation for about five minutes until the light exploded and sent multiple green and teal lights all over the sky like serpentine northern lights. Penna then flew back to the ground and landed perfectly on her feet, the smoke clearing out.

"Penna?" Marius asked as he carefully walked over to his girlfriend. He stopped to give her space when she stood up and his eyes, just like the others' did, widened when they saw how she had suddenly morphed. Her attire now consisted of a tight long-sleeved, low cut dark rosewood shirt made of leather designed with slithering rattlesnakes decorated with petal-shaped scales and a dark Victorian high-collar, a black mamba-scaled mini skirt that barely concealed her hips' curves, gothic fishnet tights, and teal thigh-high heeled boots with the heels fashioned to look like snakes bearing fangs. Her neck had for a necklace a purple, jeweled cobra that coiled around the organ as if to strangle it and her ears had matching snake-themed ear cuffs. Her black hair with teal-streaks was brushed into fancy snake braids that slithered into beautiful curls.

Overall, she was...

"Magnificent," Marius sighed.

Penna looked down and saw her new look. Her stare then moved to her hands, making them agitate her fingers. Sparks of teal light moving like hissing snakes appeared and made her grin.

"Oh yeah," she said with a confident tone that she had never used for three months now. "Now we're talking."

 _Shortly before the light explosion_

"Time out!" Evie said back at the cafeteria while Aaron Duncan walked back to the table. All the other students scooted out of the way in order to let him pass. "Martin Fiske, _our_ Martin Fiske, murdered Baron Zemo?"

"And mauled Zeniko's arm," Aaron said with an indifferent nod. "Otherwise, do you know anybody else with the same name who can kill a dangerous terrorist by lethally blocking the seven chakras of the body?"

"He's got a point," Sean agreed. "Remember when Lonnie went crazy from the relic Penna-brainwashed-by-Voldemort made out of the megassence from our marks of villainy? She completely overpowered us until Martin blocked her seven chakras and killed her until Penna revived her with one of her Horcruxes. Martin was downright...cold about."

"Sure, but why on earth would he even go as far as to kill Baron Zemo?" Franz asked. "That part I still don't get. HYDRA has never been involved with Monkey Fist and his personal quest for world dominance."

"Their only involvement was that Baron Zemo happened to own a mystical monkey artifact that Fiske Boy wanted to bring back to his old man," Aaron said. "Zeniko's old man did have a knack for collecting mystical relics that would either make his parlor look nice or help him vanquish his enemies. So when Zemo caught Fiske Boy in his parlor and trying to take the artifact with him, making the son of the Monkey Fist the first to ever dare steal from HYDRA, he tried to kill him on the spot. Obvious answer as to who won and who destroyed Zeniko's arm in the process by using his claws to slice through his flesh like raw fish prepared for sushi."

"And you guys know all this _how_?" Mal asked suspiciously.

"Weren't you listening?" Leona asked. She instantly walked over to Dwight and kicked him in the stomach. The hollowgast instantly vomited out a silver colored laptop full of graffiti stickers that mostly said D3T DISCO CLUB in bright neon colors. Leona picked up the laptop and wiped off the saliva on it before opening it and quickly tapping with just the tip of her fingers like a robot. "Control room full of cameras with their eyes on the world? Texas was able to video record Fiske and broadcast her video all over the Raft."

"And you have it on you?" Ben walked over to see Leona pull open a page full of videos.

"Yep. Despite Texas' antics, we still download her videos for the heck of it. Ah, there it is. Texas' video, MARTIN FISKE, WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS BAD KID #2. Go to 5:20."

Ben moved the video forward to the time Leona mentioned and played the video. Everyone gathered one by one to have the repeated visual of a young man breaking into a fancy, HYDRA themed parlor full of antiques from the air vent and make his way towards an emerald monkey Buddha right when a man in his mid-fifties bearing a purple uniform and a sword instantly charged at him, only to get touched in seven areas of the body before finally collapsing on the floor.

The young man who had just killed the former was, as they feared, Martin Fiske, only he looked much younger by a couple of years and wore a red one shoulder cape over his iconic martial arts uniform. His cold stare in the video cruelly shrugged off the dead body and made his way back to the idol he was seeking.

Right when videotaped Martin got a hold of the idol, the door burst open and a teenager boy shouted a mute scream (Leona didn't turn on the volume) and dropped on his knees before the dead man on the floor. The teenager looked like he was exactly Martin's age, height, and similar skin tone. The only things separating the two were this kid's lemon-colored hair gelled down to reach his chin level and they were held up by a fire-yellow headband designed like a crown, his eggplant-colored opera coat with golden trimmings and lavender-colored HYDRA symbol motifs going all the way down his coat where buttons should have been, maroon pants, a blue blouse shirt underneath it and held up by a bloody red belt with a purple diamond shaped clasp, mustard yellow shoes with lavender fur, and fuscia colored eyes that murderously looked at Martin.

"That's Zeniko Zemo!" Franz gasped as they looked further through the video. Zeniko grabbed the sword from his father's corpse and insanely tried to stab at Martin, who calmly and indifferently dodged it as if it wasn't worth his time before he finally raised his right arm. His finger's claws suddenly glowed before they ran through Zeniko's left arm.

Mal and some others had to cover their mouths when they saw the flesh literally get chopped like meat slices. The videotaped Zeniko mutely screamed in agony and dropped on the floor like a wiggling worm on a hook while Martin casually made his way out from the way he came in. Leona hit pause on the video.

"That's exactly how we found Zemo once we rushed to the scene minutes later!" Madison said. "Wow! I knew Fiske was tough, but amputating the biggest asshole in HYDRA? Remind me to send him a thank you card!"

Dwight, Aaron, and Leona snorted a bit in agreement. "Isn't it?" Leona closed the laptop. "Not only was Zeniko unable to get revenge, but he grew such a superiority complex that he was both feared and laughed at back in the Raft!"

"Why would he grow a superiority complex?" Ben asked, still feeling like he took too many flu shots now that he just saw the video.

"Duh. He just got bested by Martin Fiske," Aaron scoffed. "Back on the Raft, all the inmates made fun of the caged Zeniko by throwing him insults on how Fiske Boy was better than him."

"More intellectual and cunning, better physique and agility, more capable in hand-to-hand combat," Dwight listed. "Bearing strong, but hibernating mystical powers, claws that amputate, very wealthy, a colder personality, more focused on his ambitions..."

"And _incredibly_ hot." Leona gave an odd smitten grin. "I mean seriously, who here can't admit that they find our tall, dark, British monkey boy here totally hot?"

A bunch of embarrassed murmurs and sighs came from a majority of the female VKs present in the cafeteria, with at least a few from both Auradon Prep and St. Luther. Much to the shock of some boyfriends, their girlfriends were blushing as well.

"Shame for them he's never bothered with any of them." Madison replied. "I've seen a bunch of jeerleaders and even ten eight-year-old girls back on the Isle who fawned over him in one day and yet he just walks by as if he wasn't being adored for his looks!"

"He did put Gaston to shame, I'll give him that." Franz nodded.

"You'd think that for a guy who is such a magnet to chicks, he'd purposely attract an entire flock to his advantage like any Casanova, but he never has." Otrera had to agree with them. "He never even blinked at his female neighbors back home and a good portion of the teens living in the Isle's Northern District were disgustingly rich princesses and heirs! A new lord moves in and everyone thinks he'll hook up with a fellow bad lady, but no, he preferred the new girl who grew up on streets and stole stuff most of her life!"

 _ **BOOOM!**_

An explosion was heard from outside and the windows showed strange green and teal lights glowing in the sky.

"OK, for the record, I am _not_ responsible for that!" Aaron held his hands up in defense.

"We believe you..." Ben dropped his jaw when he saw the lights in the sky moving like glowing serpents.

"Ben, please tell me that's not Penna's magic..." Mal begged.

 _Meanwhile, at Martin's house_

Ruby poured some Earl Grey tea in a teapot and brought it to the living room. Martin was sitting on the couch and still holding an ice pack on his head. Apparently, he still couldn't get rid of his headaches even when fourteen hours had passed since he nearly got successfully kidnapped out of Auradon Prep.

"You're not really recovering well," Ruby said in worry as she poured the tea in two cups that were standing on the living room's marmoset-designed coffee table. "Lonnie managed to recover at least an hour and a half ago."

"Why did they paralyze us differently?"

"What?"

Martin struggled to reach for his cup of tea. Before he'd fall on the ground, Ruby quickly gave him his cup and gently pushed him back on the couch. Her worry increased as she watched him sip his tea like a sick child. "Martin, you're worrying me..."

"They used a hollowgast nail on Lonnie to paralyze her. What the Hell did their drug on me have..." He coughed the tea out of his mouth.

Out of instinct, Ruby put a hand on his forehead. "You're burning. Martin, I think you have a fever."

"Don't...be...silly..." He fainted right on the spot. Without hesitating, Ruby quickly pulled out her phone and dialed the school nurse.

 _Back at the tourney field_

"I'm flying! I'm flying!" Penna was screaming like an overly excited preschooler as she flew over the tourney field with her functional wings. She then proceeded to blast magic at one of the bleacher seats, making it coil like a twisted metal snake until she froze it. "My magic's working! Yes!"

"What have we done?" Frieda and Cornelius looked at the entire scenario with Marius, Daylight, Kit, and Junk. Frieda facepalmed herself on the cheek. "We just brought back the most evil witch in all of history."

Marius spread his wings and jumped off. The first thing he did was grab Penna by the arm, which instantly calmed her down. "Are you calm now?"

"Yes." Penna flew back to the main ground. "I'm sorry. I guess that I was just so glad to have my wings and magic back..."  
"I know, Viper Eyes. But maybe try to, you know, tone it down?"

Penna nodded.

A group of students and staff suddenly rushed to the tourney field. Many gasped and yelped when they saw certain elements together: the lights that disappeared from the sky, the twisted bleacher seat, and Penna's sudden physical appearance.

"Boss?" Minuit, Feige, Dårlig, and Jessie pushed through the crowd. They gawked at the sight of Penna's newly recovered powers.

"You twisted the bleacher?" Minuit pointed at the bleacher in question.

"Yes." Penna then lost her smile and walked over to Jessie, whom she held by the wrist covered with bandages. "The delinquent's son did this?"

"It's only a few fractured bones. I should feel better by next week," Jessie said. She looked up and down at the daughter of Voldemort. "Is it really you, boss?"

"The same boss who put thirteen impales on each of those two rotten clowns who dared to abandon you."

Jessie said nothing for two minutes before suddenly squeezing Penna in a bear hug. "Only my boss Penna De Mort would say something as nice about the day she adopted me! I MISSED YOU!"

"Yay..." Penna coughed a smile while trying to maintain her breathing. Even though she was a Muggle, Jessie Joker could easily kill someone with her hugs worthy of a constrictor snake. Even the pythonacondas back at the Isle were afraid of Jessie after she managed to hug one of the species' adult males to death.

Mal quickly grabbed Penna's wrist to inspect it. "Penna, what happened to the magic neutralizing bracelet you had on you?"

"Oh, you mean my leash?" Penna coldly slapped away Mal's hand. "It broke into pieces."

"Darn shame," Kit said with a sarcastic shrug.

"S...So, you...you...you can use your magic...a...again?" Leona Ernst hid behind Aaron Duncan and Dwight Barron. To answer her question, Penna snapped her fingers and the trio instantly found themselves teleported right in front of the crowd. They all gasped, mostly because the powers of Penna De Mort, powers they had grown to fear, had returned.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Leona dropped on her knees and begged.

"You're ridiculously weak." Penna looked at Leona deadpan. "Even if I were back in my evil self, I wouldn't have bothered killing you."

"Phew. What a relief!" Leona sighed and got up. "For a moment, I thought I was going to get disintegrated!"

"You're just not worth my time." Penna said bluntly before almost walking away. "None of you and your peers back on your sad, little underwater prison are worth my time."

"Wait. _You_ know about the Raft?" Ben asked Penna. "I can't believe it!"

"Benjamin, Benjamin, do you keep forgetting I'm ancient?" Penna scolded. "The Raft already existed years before Auradon was born. It was just one of those silly prisons meant for supervillains that I blew up one by one because I needed some of the inmates for my, you know..."

"Old plan to annihilate the universe and recreate a new one for you to rule?" Frieda guessed.

"I had daddy issues!" Penna raised her arm in frustration. "I mean, can you blame a girl for wanting to kill everyone who bullied her just because she was born to the worst villain ever?"

"Huh. Remind me to leave you alone with my father for a tea party, I'm sure he can relate to that," Marius snickered a bit.

"If you knew about the Raft, then how come, oh I don't know, you never came after our marks?" Dwight pulled up his left sleeve. VKs gathered to see a mark of villainy carved on his forearm: a symbolic hollowgast impaling a bird with its creepy tongues.

"None of you on the Raft were related to Yaveske or Yves, so yeah, I labeled you as completely out of worth."

" _Completely out of worth_?" Aaron Duncan scowled. "Who the Hell are you to decide who's mark is worth or not?"

"I could ask a similar thing to one of the bad reformees lacking a mark." Penna walked over and flicked Aaron right on the forehead, causing him to drop a brown bottle that he had managed to hide underneath his shirt. "Oh, and don't forget this charming little thing that you used to drug Martin Fiske with."

Everyone gasped. Jay quickly picked up the bottle before Aaron could, receiving a scowl from the latter.

Just to everyone's luck, the bell rang and everyone dispersed. Ben quickly grabbed Marius by the arm before the latter could join his group. "Listen, you're by far the only one Penna bothers to listen to seriously even though she has her powers back," Ben said. "Could you try to keep her in check?"

"You're feeling threatened by my girlfriend?" Marius asked coldly. "Just because she has magic now doesn't make her a monster."

"No, but everyone else thinks she is based on her past, and if she gets carried away because her magic's back, they'll think she's evil again. And with the current condition her Acupuncture Needles are giving her...they could, you know..."

Marius looked horrified, for he got the message that Ben was giving him. Penna could be threatened by yet another mob, only this one would make her an easy target due to her condition. Even her allergy for mandrake roots had proven to be quite dangerous for her.

"What do you recommend I do?" Marius asked quietly.

"Just make sure that Penna doesn't get too used to performing her magic at all-times like her evil persona did. She _can_ use magic, but not all the time. Merlin and Fairy Godmother are already busy figuring out how to cure Penna's blood poisoning issue while at the same time helping her figure out how to get rid of her remaining Horcruxes."

"I do already have a good idea of how to get rid of some of the remaining Kraken Acupuncture Needles," Marius admitted, "but that is something I need to discuss with Penna."

"Good. In the meantime, I have to deal with the U.N and Nick Fury." Ben groaned. "I still can't believe there was a prison other than the Isle Of The Lost and not even my own parents knew it existed for about 21 years!"

"Well, I can see things in only one particular way, Benjamin, based on what I've seen and heard so far in Auradon," Marius shrugged before flying off to join his group, "the Isle Of The Lost was built so that the villains could be forever forgotten and heroes could finally live in their own fantastical paradise, and in the Raft, the locked inmates were either unfortunate or just capable of destroying both the Isle and Auradon."

 _Later, in Chemistry Class_

Normally, Mr. Delay wouldn't let any student do an off-topic experiment without his permission, but since King Ben told him so, he had to let Manny Colchis and Ficklette Stein, one of St. Luther's students and the best scientist in her school, experiment Aaron's drug.

"This is by far the most complex chemical substance I've ever seen." Ficklette scratched her head. "There must be more than ten compounds in this one mixture." She took a sample of the substance and put it on a microscope to inspect while Manny continued to sketch the experiment in order to understand the substance.

"Perhaps if we were to test the temperature pressure..." Manny reached for the tool shed before Ficklette caught his arm.

"Hold it." She walked over to the nearest table and shoved one of the Auradon Prep students in order to grab the small heating stove he was using and plugged it to her table.

"What on earth is going on back there?" Mr. Delay demanded.

"Everybody scoot to a corner...NOW!" Ficklette pushed everyone out of his or her chairs and into a small corner near the chalkboard. Once she made sure that everyone, including Manny, were out of the way, she put her black goggles over her eyes for protection and put the substance sample on the heating stove, which she brought to highest temperature...

 **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

Some screamed when they saw the sample explode ten times, destroying the stove and the table corner it was standing on in the process. Fortunately, the rest of the serum was safe, but the fire alarm did ring loudly and the sprinklers turned on, spinning a shower over the lab.

"This damn sample that just exploded was only one milliliter of the substance and it was full of ten nano-explosives!" Ficklette pointed at the remains of the stove. "If I had increased the temperature to the entire substance, which is 40 times bigger than this sample, I would have easily blown up the entire state!"

"A drug with nano-explosives in it." Manny walked over to see the remains. "Fascinating. Just one could kill an individual if triggered!"

Both widened their eyes and made a run out of the lab.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Ficklette shouted. They ran through all the hallways and caught the attention of every single class going. "HEALTH PROTOCOL! HEALTH PROTOCOL!"

 _About an hour later_

There wasn't a single member in the auditorium who wasn't currently patting his or her nose with a tissue right now. Once Ficklette and Manny realized that the substance wielded nano-explosives, they had the teachers organize a health protocol, which meant having the students line up one by one and face the horror of Ficklette's medical capacities: sticking giant tweezers in their noses in order to detect the presence of any of the ticking bombs, and if so, forcibly extract it out of the students. Even Martin, who seemed to have suffered quite a lot by inhaling the drug, had lost so much blood when Ficklette extracted from his nose that Ruby had to temporarily push around her sick boyfriend in a wheelchair.

"OK, people, listen up!" Mr. Barkin shouted over the microphone and shushed the crowd. "It would seem like at least 70% of our students from the two schools combined have briefly been contaminated by the consumption of the nano-explosives and would have most likely exploded if Stein hadn't extracted them."

"Thank you, Fick," all of the students from St Luther said while trying to keep their noses from bleeding.

"Now, to question the suspects." Barkin turned to Dwight, Aaron, and Leona, who were sitting in three chairs on the stage and looking like three convicts in a justice court. The adult leaned before them and asked coldly: "Why did you try to contaminate us and how did you do it?"

"Uh, actually, Mr. B?" Ficklette raised her hand and went through a pile of paper that she had written notes on. "I did some calculations and 69.99% of the victims were contaminated prior to their arrival. The 0.01%, which _they_ contaminated, was Martin Fiske."

"So, they're only responsible by 0.01%." Barkin glared at the trio, who each gave toothy Cheshire cat grins that said ' _so innocent_ '. "Alright, I'll ask another question. Did you make this substance?"

"Nope." Dwight shook his head.

"Do I look like I enjoy watching people explode their spleens?" Aaron arched an eyebrow.

"Unless I'm being threatened, I would never...OK, MIA ZOLA GAVE US THE SUBSTANCE AND TOLD US TO ONLY DRUG FISKE BOY BEFORE WE HAD TO DELIVER THEM TO ZENIKO ZEMO'S NEW BOSS!" Leona fell on her knees and screamed with her hands in the air while her accomplices either sighed in frustration or slapped themselves on the forehead.

"I should have known..." Martin coughed weakly.

"Another member of the ZAM-Trio?" Ben asked. Martin fainted on his wheelchair before he could answer.

"I think we overdid the extraction." Ficklette uneasily grimaced. "He lost a lot of blood."

"Mia Zola..." Franz scowled. "So the mad cyborg has escaped as well."

" _Downloading profile_." Ben Tron stood up and projected one of his 3D holographic projections, this time presenting a black-and-white criminal facial profile of a sixteen-year-old white girl with medium colored hair tied in long pigtails and her small head being 'stuck' between her insanely large metal collar that reached her forehead. A red laser camera stood on her headband and her dark eyes looked maniacally at the cameraman. " _Industrial progeny of Nazi biochemist Arnim Zola trained into quantum physics, advanced science and engineering. Purposely damaged her bionic human body at the age of twelve in order to self-recreate as a part-human, part- artificially intelligent cyborg to finally dispose of her creator..._ "

"D...Did he just say _industrial progeny_?" Jane (as in Fairy Godmother's daughter) stammered.

"Mia Zola is like Ben Tron," Franz explained. "They aren't biologically connected to their parents since, being robotic AIs, Ultron and Arnim Zola can't reproduce the way humans can."

"So they had to fabricate them," Ruby guessed. "I already know Ultron fabricated Ben in his factory back in the Isle, but...this Mia girl?"

"We're getting there. Arnim Zola isn't really a robot the way Ultron is but more of a human mind implanted in a robotic body. Since he needed someone to carry on his legacy, he created a life-like bionic body made and textured out of flesh and bones before inserting a brain-sized supercomputer with data that would activate and create Mia Zola, his 'fabricated' daughter. But as we mentioned hours ago, she wanted Arnim Zola out of her hair because she wanted to be more powerful than him, so she physically destroyed herself in order to turn herself into a cyborg that managed to destroy Arnim Zola physically and delete his data for good."

"Once she became part of the ZAM-Trio, she became the gang's official mad scientist." Madison put his hat by his chest. "I pray to our poor fellow agents who acted as her personal lab rats."

"I just don't get how she was locked up." Franz looked suspiciously at the trio on stage. "Put Mia near any kind of object and she can weaponize it. I've seen her turn _mere pens_ into missiles!"

Dwight scoffed. "Easy. Once she and the rest of the ZAM-Trio were shipped to the Raft, the guards had a special Third Sector cell prepared _just_ for her."

"A cell with the ceiling, walls, and floor made of nothing but bricks and solid cement!" Leona added. "Only one brick was loose and that just to toss in her food and quickly put the brick back in place. All alone... eating the food on the floor with her bare hands like a wild caged animal."

"But if she's a cyborg, then how come she hasn't, you know..." Ruby punched the air with her fist.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Dwight exclaimed. "You do _not_ want to break a Third Sector cell wall in the Raft!"

"And why not?" Mr. Barkin asked.

Leona answered his question by blowing on the floor, creating a piled tower of wooden rectangles like those toddlers used to play construction, only a large basin full of water laid on the very top. The wooden tower's tip was about 20 rectangles wide and went down to about 50 rectangles. The witch pointed at the rectangles holding the basin. "Pretend that this is one portion of the Raft. Water represents the ocean, basin represents the Raft's metallic barrier that keeps the villains in and the water out, top rectangles represent the Third Sector cells, the middle ones the Second Sector supervised homes, and the bottom the First Sector city. What do you think happens when I wreck _one_ cell and then decide to destroy more from the Third Sector cells?"

"This." Aaron got up, pulled a lighter from his pocket, and perfectly tossed it at the top rectangles. They fell, prompting the basin to fall as well and a large mass of water to flood to cubes, breaking them apart one by one until the stage floor was an entire mess. The crowd in the audience gasped.

"You would drown..." Ben looked horrified.

"Unless we use the Raft's escape submarines, we could easily drown," Aaron replied as he picked up his lighter. "Aside from holding the most lethal criminals in the Raft, the cells in the Third Sector act as extended support beams to the Raft's structure. If they don't, the underwater pressure will break the Raft and trap us in the abyss its located...permanently."

"Most likely become the live bait for the local marine predators and the creatures we have in the First Sector Aquarium," Dwight added. "I am _not_ looking forward to get eaten by the mutated sharks."

"Dude, forget the mutated sharks!" Leona used her magic to clean the stage (much to Barkin's gratitude) and jumped on Dwight to shake him by the collar. "What about the giant sea monster?"

"You mean the one that the Raft is pinned onto?" Dwight asked as Leona continued to shake him.

"YES! WITHTHERAFTDESTROYED, ITCOULDGOLOOSEANDTHENIT'STHEMONSTERAPOCALYPSE!"

"I don't speak fast," Ben said while Aaron, looking bored, sat down on the front of the stage. "What did she say?"

"She's talking about the giant sea monster that the Raft is pinned to," Aaron said. "See, there was one particular 'criminal' that was just too big, our wardens decided to chain it to the ocean floor and have the Raft glued on its back. But then it had an offspring and the offspring ate it, so there were issues chaining it..."

"The very first underwater earthquake of the Raft." Dwight forcibly pushed Leona off him.

"So, you guys drown, the sea monster eats you and then attacks everyone?" Carlos De Vil exclaimed. "What kind of sick prison is this?"

"The one where the government hoped to either get us drowned, killed between inmates, or turned into monster chow." Aaron shrugged. "Fortunately the monster is chained down both magically and scientifically. From the ocean floor to the inside of the Raft. Push the right button and you half free it scientifically from the inside. Perform some sort of four-men dance with the right incantation on a dry mass of land and the monster is permanently free."

"And...just how big is that monster?" Paena Maui walked over to the stage in order to face Aaron, being the daring demigoddess she was.

"Oh, you know. Big enough to make the ocean its personal kitty pool."

"Big enough to pick a human like sushi." Leona removed her left gloves and began to chew on her clawed nails out of panic.

"Certainly big enough for its head's shadow to reach all the way to Texas from the Raft's location between Oceania and Alaska."

"It's pretty monstrous," Aaron said with a smug grin before mockingly patting Paena on the shoulder. "Its shell's too tough. From what I heard it claim, even a _semi-demi-mini-god_ can't stop the beast once its chains are broken from both sides and the Raft is destroyed."

Paena's eyes widened to the size of her father's own ego. " _No_ ," she said in disbelief. " _That_ sea monster?"

"Ahem!" Ficklette's impatient throat clearing got their attention. "Hello? Topic of the explosives?"

"Right." Mr. Barkin shook his head and everyone went back in place. "So, how bad are the explosives?"

"Very bad." Ficklette went through her papers. "We got two things to worry about. First, they are detonating nano-bombs that, with the right control, could blow the head of an injected subject, and lastly, if these three hadn't shown up, a majority of us had the good chance of being decapitated by now."

Many gasped. Some princesses fainted.

"I'm willing to bet Mia Zola found a way to contaminate us all with her nano-bombs," Franz mumbled. "Blow everyone's heads up to keep others under the pinkie of whoever she's now working for." He looked at Aaron. "Looks like we owe you a thank-you card for being imperfect at hiding drugs under your shirt."

"Anytime." Aaron shrugged.

The doors of the auditorium opened and Grinchelda and Jessie made their way through. It was kind of a weird sight. After all, how often did you see people like the daughters of the Joker and the Grinch, two vaguely similar misanthropes, start hanging out for now a couple days and yet make it seem like they've been friends for years.

"We got the bottle, Fick," Grinchelda said as she tossed a bottle full of red liquid at Ficklette, who instantly caught it.

"Hey, isn't that one of those grenadine bottles that Principal Melchior kept giving around?" Barkin asked while Ficklette put the bottle down on the stage, uncorked it, and dropped a lit match through the opening. It didn't take long for it to react the same way it did back in the Chemistry lab and for the students to get soaked by sprinklers yet again.

"I don't believe it..." Barkin gasped.

Shari cupped her hand over her mouth.

"But, that would mean..." One of the Auradon Prep teachers said.

"Whether Principal Melchior is involved directly or not with blowing up the heads of his own students," Ficklette said firmly, "we have a problem with my school's headmaster."


	27. Longest Night Of My Life

Chapter 27: Longest Night Of My Life

Ben and Fairy Godmother had called the police and some of the U.N agents. They inspected every inch of Auradon Prep from the classrooms to Malevia Village. But it wasn't worth it. By sundown, they gave up looking all over the campus.

Hermia and Ariel Bartok came back from their roundup flight and met up with the young king, Fairy Godmother, Shari Sabertooth, and Nick Fury.

"Well?" Shari asked.

The sisters shook their heads. "We flew above every inch of the school," Hermia said. "Principal Melchior is nowhere to be seen."

"We even tried to use echolocation to catch any sonar waves, but we didn't catch a single breath of air from him." Ariel added. "It's like he just vanished."

"Great." Ben pinched his nose in frustration. "First, I have to deal with diplomacy with the Fae Realm, then there's Penna's health issue, Martin and Lonnie being kidnapping targets, a once secret-prison that was hidden from me," he glared at Fury when he said that, "and now we have St Luther Rose Academy's principal missing after we realize that he was going around inserting explosives in his own students. To crown it all, I had to cancel about five events for the Pride Games! If we don't find the solution to our problems, I might have to cancel the Tri-Relay, the Closing Ceremony...EVERYTHING!"

"Maybe not!" Shari snapped her fingers at the Bartok sisters. "You girls are the fastest flying duo in St Luther. Fly back to St Luther and search through Melchior's office. If you don't find anything, go to the secretary's office and ask for his mailing address. There should be clues about his intentions in his own house if his office doesn't have any."

"Got it..." Hermia and her sister nodded their heads. "Principal Sabertooth." The two girls took off. They watched them fly away right when the first drop of rain began to fall down from the sky.

"With Melchior as a traitor to his own post to guide the offspring of reformees, Mr. Barkin, the student body president Dusk Shimmer, the other St Luther chaperones and I had to vote on who would cover the role of St Luther's headmaster," Shari sighed. "The safety of my students and the reputation of the Pride Games are now stuck on my shoulders."

Fairy Godmother placed a comforting hand on Shari's shoulder. "As a fellow headmistress, I'll be supporting you for the caring of the students."

"I shall send a..." Nick Fury began, only for Ben to cut him off.

"No!" The adults looked at him in shock. "After the way you hid behind my back, no, to _the country's entire back_ , the existence of the Raft, you expect me to trust you? You, Nick Fury, will do nothing unless you are told to and don't think I'm not planning to hold a debate with the U.N and the rest of the world leaders!"

"Your Highness, as much as I believe in your opinion that villainous children deserve a second chance..."

"It's not about my beliefs, but on how your treatment of them worsened their sanity! At least when my parents banished villains to the Isle of the Lost, they did it in a human way and not chain them to the island, expecting vultures to come and eat their corpses the same way you thought that a physical breakout in the Raft would either drown the villains or turn them into sea monster food!" Ben took a deep breath. "We'll talk about this once the Pride Games are over."

"If they'll even be over," Shari commented. "At this rate, the students' lives could be put on threat during the most important event of the Pride Games, but a majority of my St Luther students have prepared too much for this event. We already had to cancel the decathlon, the Pride Pokemon Contests, the music event, and now the Pride Games Pokemon League, the fashion design event, the soccer event, the spelling bee event, and the obstacle course event. St Luther will experience a reputation issue if we have to cancel the Tri-Relay."

"We'll just have to take double precautions," Ben said. "I'll have guards patrol every inch of the perimeters within the campus and the city."

"Students will have to be given curfews," Fairy Godmother added. "Once their classes and extracurricular activities are over, they cannot leave the school grounds without at least a companion or chaperone."

"And the three teenagers from the Raft?" Fury asked.

"We have it covered," Fairy Godmother said. "For safety reasons, we'll make sure that these three don't sleep in the same area. Leona will stay with Evie and Mal in their dorm, Aaron with Charles and Gabriel, and Dwight with Otrera. That way the three of them will be watched by students I know will easily outmatch them."

"Smart." Shari gave Fairy Godmother a thumbs-up.

"And what off De Mort, Fiske, and Fa Li?" Fury added.

Ben glared at him. "They're under better protection and it's none of your business."

 _Meanwhile, in Otrera Beldam's house_

Dwight forcefully swallowed down a burp, making sure that he didn't sound disgusting. Otherwise, he would have left a bad impression on Otrera.

He was the luckiest out of the trio from the Raft. While Aaron and Leona were probably sleeping in bags on the floor of two dorm rooms with the current residents keeping a very close eye on them, Dwight had the advantage of actually staying in a house. Otrera Beldam's house, to be exact.

Good thing his father, Mr. Barron, was still stuck on the Raft, otherwise the latter would have annoyed the former with the rules of hollowgast etiquette, because if there's one particular thing about hollowgasts, it's that they are close to being an all-male species, so when it comes to those who want to choose mates, they aim straight for the all-female species of monsters who like to feast on young innocence as much as they do.

Of course, Dwight wasn't in a hurry for a mate, but he didn't hide the fact that he was attracted to Otrera, who just happened to belong to the all-female monster species in question.

Her house was very pleasant, to say the least. Fashioned to look like a bright gray, two-story tall version of the actual Pink Palace Apartments, Otrera's house was well-furnished on the inside: a clean kitchen that seemed to change odors whenever she cooked, a white-walled traditional colonial dining room that led straight to an outdoor patio surrounded by a web of colorful flowers and a willow tree, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a drawing room (so far, the only thing that creeped him in his house) designed to look just like the Other Mother's bug-themed drawing room.

"Need help clearing the table?" They had just finished eating the dinner Otrera had prepared barely five minutes after they stepped inside the house. He could still feel the chicken potpie and vanilla soufflé he had just eaten being digested in his stomach.

"You're sweet, but that won't be necessary." She got up and tapped her finger on the plate, glass, and silverware she had used, causing all the dirty dishes on the table to emit glowing pink button-shaped auras. Dwight watched the dirty stains and leftover scraps of food dissolve into non-existing spectacles of dust and all the dishes turn into cleaner, brighter conditions.

"Quite effective," he admitted. Despite the fact that she politely declined his offer to help, he still ended up helping her put the dishes back in their cabinet. The rain outside made quite a ticking sound while the dining room's glass chandelier dinged along, which weirdly sounded like a creepy lullaby.

Once he had helped her put the silverware back in place, Dwight couldn't help but notice a picture hanging on the wall as the only decoration. It represented Otrera in her usual pink shirtwaist dress, black waistcoat with puffed sleeves and white polka dots, white thigh-high socks, high heeled shoes that matched her jacket, and the pink flowered, needles, and spider web based hairpins she used to keep her short black hair up despite its unruly nature. In the picture, she was accompanied by two adults who looked like the parent-version of Otrera, only the mother had black button eyes and wore an apron while the father had blue button eyes and wore the nightrobe version of Otrera's jacket. The 'family' looked like they were having tea together in the drawing room.

"Your parents seem like nice folks," Dwight said as nicely as he could. Otrera looked up from the last cabinet and at the picture, saying nothing for the moment.

"That's just my mom and my fake dad." She closed the cabinet and locked it tight with a velvet colored button key that she tucked in the pocket of her dress.

"Your...fake dad?" Dwight asked. She nodded.

"Unless she finds herself a breeding mate, my mother needs to create her own children," Otrera explained while she led him up the black-painted wooden staircase in order to reach the second floor. "The same way she created 'other families' for the children she lured into her web, she created me out of a normal ragdoll sack sewn by thread made out of her own, black blood, so that I could be her 'biological' daughter. Once I came, she created the paternal figure you saw in the picture. She finally destroyed him three years ago."

"Why would she destroy him if he was supposed to act as your father?"

"Teenage years. Once that happens, you have to start to toughen up and live up to the family expectations, especially when you have to live with the motto of 'catching more flies with honey than vinegar'." She sighed. "Thanks to that motto, I still can't convince the mothers in Auradon that I'm not going to devour their kids' souls if I babysit them."

"Ouch. But then how on earth do you manage to feed yourself? I mean, I've seen you eat normal food..."

"Two words: wild animals." They reached an ebony painted door. Otrera pulled something out of her pocket, only this time it was a golden button key that she used to unlock the door. "Once my mother was drafted into the Isle Of The Lost and I was created later on, we were given a chance to go hunt in the woods for baby animals. Naturally, my mother and I had to morph into their 'other maternal figures' in order to gain their trusts. That way, they wouldn't resist us when it came to sewing buttons on their eyes and eating their lives. I still go hunting on Saturdays for baby does."

"I'd love to see that," he said with a wink, causing Otrera to blush as she opened the door to the guest room. It was medium-sized, with just a black wardrobe, a door leading to the bathroom, a small vanity mirror standing next to the window covered by spider web-patterned curtains, and a round bed covered by gray bed sheets with black spider web motifs and matching black button-shaped pillows. Like most of the house, the walls were covered with a white background, black button patterned wallpaper that seemed so realistic, it was as if the buttons moved along with the two teens as they stepped into the room.

"You're...really into buttons and spiders." Dwight blinked at the wallpaper and nearly cringed.

"Yes, normally I'd accommodate a guest room based on the person's interest, but after a nice bribe, I decided to keep it that way." Otrera shrugged as she briefly looked through the curtains and at the rain outside. "When a beldam doesn't hide her true nature from her guest slash victim, she means business."

"Uh. I am officially both creeped out and attracted by your antics now."

Otrera smugly smirked at him, with her face revealing a tint of blush on her cheeks, which made her look like a blushing porcelain doll. "Don't start getting used to it. I only accept when the bribe is good."

"Yes. Bribe's good." Using just one finger, he touched Otrera's hair and played with one of the curls that touched her left cheek. "It's nice to see that even outside of home, the Hunter Complex still works for some people."

Otrera's button eyes blinked. Her body quivered a bit as she suddenly felt herself backing away slowly. If Dwight hadn't caught her by the waist, she would have surely fallen on the bed. "T...The Hunter Complex?" What was the point of him catching her? He just ended up gently laying her back on the bed and caressing her neck with the tip of his fingers as if they were spider legs.

"The Hunter Complex is a sort of philosophy developed on the Raft," Dwight said to her ear, tickling her skin with his tongues' tips. "A hunter is in a meadow occupied by an entire herd of deer. Normally, he could just shoot any of those deer down and bring the dead ones back home to eat, but once the herd's gem, a golden doe, arrives, he drops his normal routine of hunting normal, old deer, and makes a go for the most valuable one that he knows he'll treasure for the rest of his life." He gave her a small, regretful look. "I wish I could woo you properly, but with my family's current situation... I'm sorry." His pale eyes glowed ominously while white smoke slithered their way out of his exhaling mouth and into Otrera's inhaling nose. Her button eyes flashed as the hypnotic spell went through her respiratory system.

"Go with my words," Dwight whispered. "I will not harm you and you will obey me."

" _You will not harm me and I will obey you_." Otrera's tone sounded so normal, it was as if she spoke the words out of willingness and not hypnosis.

Dwight grabbed the collar of her dress and pulled it down. Her skin felt like Chinese porcelain to his lips. "In public, I am your smitten guest, and in private, you are my submissive lover."

" _In public, you are my smitten guest, and in private, I am your submissive lover._ "

He moved up to just beneath her chin and kissed that area, making the daughter of the Other Mother shiver with pleasure. "You say nothing about our affair to anyone. In return for telling me one single truth, I shall grant you a kiss." He lifted his head up and saw Otrera's eyes. The buttons looked naturally the same, but the thread holding them was now as white as his own eyes.

" _I say nothing about our affair to anyone. In return for telling you one single truth, you shall grant me a kiss. What would you like me to tell you in order to get such pleasure_?"

"You can start by telling me if you know where Fairy Godmother and Merlin are keeping Penna De Mort's Horcruxes."

 _Meanwhile, in Mal and Evie's dorm room_

"You're sure it's safe?" Leone poked a finger on the small mattress Mal had magically created with her magic. It was a small, cushy mattress with a purple sleeping bag and matching pillow on top, and yet Leona was nervously touching it with her bare fingers as if it were some sort of bag full of nails, just waiting to explode the moment she sat on it.

"Relax, it's like every single mattress the dorms in Auradon Prep have," Mal said. "Seriously, how paranoid are you?"

" _Very._ "

Evie and Mal glanced at each other. Despite the fact that they were aware to beware Leona's magical abilities, they had tried to remain as hospitable as possible, going as far as to offer the young witch from the Raft a comfortable mattress to sleep on, cozy purple pajamas, and a cup of hot cocoa. But it seemed like the daughter of the Grand High Witch was afraid of everything.

"Leona, just how badly did your mom mistreat you?" Evie asked. "You know, aside from the..." She waved her hand in front of her face.

"My mom didn't mistreat me." Leona arched an eyebrow. "She just didn't raise me."

" _Didn't_ raise you?" Mal arched an eyebrow. "I'm confused."

"Your mom never told you about _my_ kind of witches?" Leona finally surrendered and sat on the mattress, which ended up pleasing her with its cushy nature. "Besides our horrible case of ugliness that we get from the Grand High Witch once we're born, we hate children due to their odors. I might be a witch, but I was still a child. Traditions forbid us witches from raising their daughters, so I had to take care of myself until I hit my puberty. It was only once I was thirteen that I reunited with my mom. By then, the odors were off me, but honestly, even after that I hardly live with my mom. I just got used to living in my bedroom back at the First Sector Orphanage."

"Speaking of First Sector, how exactly do they work?" Evie asked. "Right now, I only got the part of the Third Sector being reserved for the most dangerous only."

Leona held out her hand. A smoke of magic later, a peach appeared in the palm of her hand. She cracked it open so that they could see the inside. With one finger, she traced the fruit and created three purple zones, the lightest being near the core and the darkest being near the skin. "Pretend this one peach is the Raft. Like we said before, the Third Sector cells act as support beams for the Raft's outer layer." She showed the dark purple layer before moving to the medium purple layer. "Then it goes to the Second Sector..." She then went to the lightest area. "And then there's the First Sector. Like the category of first, second, and third class, the First Sector holds the majority of the inmates, which are the least dangerous ones. The First Sector is basically the city where we live in. It's almost like for you back on the Isle, only for us it's more like a cleaner and more advanced metropolis with advantages that convinced some of us to never leave. We get to move around with all the leisure in the world.

"But by the time you shift into the Second Sector, security intensifies. It's like a suburban prison where the prisoners live in big houses and can move around as they please until their curfew, where they must go back to their houses and stay locked in for the night until their fences' force fields turn off at sunrise. Third Sector, no freedom."

"Do the Sectors interact?" Mal asked.

"Between the First and the Second, yes. With these sectors, you can move around and get involved with the inmates from the sector other than yours until it's the Second Sector curfews. But going into the Third Sector, whether it's for going on a school field trip or just to pick on the prisoners, is dangerously forbidden. You can't go in there even as a group unless there's a guard escorting you there. The Raft's architecture between the Second and Third Sectors get very tricky because there's quite a labyrinth of tunnels and pipes to disorient rogue prisoners in case they try to break out. That's why the Third Sector is the most heavily guarded...until now."

"Did you have a school in the First Sector?" Evie asked out of genuine curiosity while managing to clean her makeup at the same time. "Back at the Isle, we had Dragon Hall..."

"There aren't any schools in the Raft." Leona shook her head. "We were either homeschooled or we learned how to take of ourselves on our own. At the First Sector Orphanage, Carly Courtney managed to teach herself the basic stuff since she was four and she now occasionally tutors those who bother to learn how to read and write, or how to locate constellations or solve mathematic equations." She then giggled. "To think she ran into Aaron after one of her 'classes'..."

"Why? What's so interesting about that?" Mal was getting interested.

"Carly's mom and Aaron's dad had a sort of love-hate relationship back in the old days of TOTAL DRAMA," Leona chuckled. "Because of that, almost all our peers back in the first two sectors like to tease the possibility of Carly and Aaron being an item. Thing is, it's the complete opposite of how their parents interacted when they first met. In this case, Aaron's the one denying any sort of attraction towards Carly while Carly just blushes behind her glasses. Seriously, the only excuse Aaron comes up with is this." She cleared her throat, straightened herself, and crossed her arms before doing a perfect indifferent face that Aaron Duncan would pull off. "'You're delusional, dude. She's like three years younger than me.'"

Evie and Mal giggled. The idea of picturing the tough Aaron being hooked up with some sort of young geek...just sounded ridiculous to them.

Leona chuckled nervously as she put her hands behind her back and twitched her thumbs. A small purple MP3 player appeared in her palm. She toyed with the switches and one of the songs in her playlist played at full volume. She mentally sighed, both in relief and out of guilt: sometimes being the weakest among the group made you less suspected by others, so Evie and Mal didn't expect her to enchant them to sleep with one of her MP3's songs that she purposely cursed for the occasion.

Once she made sure that the daughters of Maleficent and the Evil Queen were fast asleep and nowhere close to remembering what just happened, Leona walked towards Evie's handbag and pulled out the magic mirror. While one hand held up the mirror, the other put itself on Leona's throat as she cleared it and made a perfect imitation of Evie's voice.

"Mirror, mirror, in my hand, show me where Penna De Mort's Horcruxes are held in this land."

 _(Her inmate Holly Buerromuerto Azaleafields did the song that was playing in her MP3)_

Holly's voice: _Stars shine in este oscuro cielo_

 _The moon has taken over el sol. Oh-oh-oh-oh._

 _So let's enjoy el tiempo we have for ourselves_

 _Under this beautiful hechizo de amor. Eh-eh-eh-eh._

 _So chico, hold me as tight as you can._

 _So chico, kiss me mientras tu vida. Ah-ah-ah-ah._

 _I'm asking this una vez. Don't make me say it dos veces._

 _I want you to make this the longest night of my life._

Somewhere downtown, an Irish pub was still open. Jessie Joker had managed to sneak past the security patrols of the school campus and was now enjoying a nice mug full of beer. Of course, the bartender was hesitant at first to let a minor drink alcohol, but he gave in when she bribed him with a $100 dollar tip.

"Are you waiting for someone...or are you just going to get yourself another refill?" He asked when he came over to ask Jessie if she wanted a 'refill'. She was holding her hand over her mouth in order to keep her hiccups to herself.

"I am waiting for someone," the daughter of the Joker and Harley Quinn said right when the door opened and a customer came in. Most of the drunk patrons of the pub failed to notice her presence, but Jessie couldn't. Especially not with that red wine cocktail dress that exposed the young girl's average, yet somewhat curvy body, and that holly hairclip keeping her hair up, making her green neck shine from the pub's lantern.

"I'm gonna get myself some coffee," the bartender pinched his nose and left them alone. It was weird enough that he had the late Crown Prince's minor daughter drinking in his pub, but now this...

"Glad to see you made your way past the guards," Jessie said as Grinchelda sat on the chair facing her. She managed to swallow her hiccups back in. "Love the dress."

"Thanks." Grinchelda blushed. "Glad you managed to find us a good place to, you know..." She shrugged. "My friends wouldn't understand, especially with me being two years younger than you..."

"So there's the age difference. Big whoop. I already did crimes that rank all the way to helping an all-powerful witch destroy the world, it's not like I'm going to get shipped back on the Isle because I'm not crazy about boys." She reached out and held Grinchelda's hand. "Besides, you and I both love to have a good laugh."

Grinchelda smiled back and held Jessie's hand the same way. "We sure do."

The bartender sighed from the stand and decided to get himself a pill. This was bound to be a long night.

Holly's voice: _Your touches on my skin suave. Eh-eh-eh-eh_

 _Makes me wanna fly como una mariposa. Ah-ah-ah-ah_

 _Maybe this night is worsening this sin lujurioso,_

 _But no me importa. It makes my heart go supernova._

 _So chico, make me bailar the way my heart is._

 _So chico, love me until termine la noche. Eh-eh-eh-eh._

 _I'm telling this una vez. Don't make me repeat it dos veces._

 _I want this to be the longest night of my life._

Everyone was getting inside their tents for the evening at the camping area of the Fae Realm 'tourists' aside from a few goblin guards who volunteered to stay up and take watch while the others shut closed the entrances of their tents. For fairies, it was a better thing to do since rain was never a good idea for their wings.

While Kit, Junk, Daylight, and Sugar Plum stayed in their own tents, Penna was staying over at Marius' due to the tensions going on back at the campus and that honestly, the Fae Realm security was the only form of executive order that seemed to actually worry about her safety.

Her eyes were fixed on her cup full of Pollen Ale that sat nicely on the table. She held her right hand up, put all her energy into makin it stay in that pose, and moved her fingers like a spider's legs walking in slow motion. The liquid from the cup moved with the flow of her fingers and move around in masses like tree roots slithering around.

"Penna?"

Hearing Marius made her tighten her grip and caused the liquid to turn solid. He caught it before it could hit the table. "I see you're practicing metalworking."

"Sorry." Penna patted her forehead and dizzily sat on the comfortable sole bed the tent had. Her wings gracefully folded and rested themselves on the white bed sheet made of flower petals. "I guess that regaining my magic is getting over me. At the same time, it's helping me deal with my poison issue."

"It is?" Marius saw that he could easily crack the golden sculpture like a twig. He used the pieces to decorate his flower vases, which caused him to catch sight of the Night Violet, his treasured flower.

"I know I should watch out for how I use my magic, especially since I was made to only use it for bad things..."

"Time out." Marius pulled out the Night Violet and took a sniff out of it. "'You were made'? Now I know I'm talking to the good Penna."

"What good?" Penna suddenly snapped. "Good Penna! Bad Penna! Penna in between! I can't deal with this, Marius!" She laid on the bed and cried. "I'm obviously suffering a multiple personality disorder, and no matter how much I try and how much others try to help me, I'm still Voldemort's unwanted..."

It was so quick. He lunged at her and pinned her to the bed, his left hand restraining her waist while his right hand clutched both the Night Violet and the back of her neck. His sharp nails sank through her skin.

"Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, I swear that you're on the verge of crossing my irritation border," he said sternly. His hazel eyes and her icy blue eyes clashed with one another, a stern serious look versus a miserable frightened one. "Are your Acupunctures seriously getting this thick everytime I have to tell you that I don't give a _fucking shit_ about you being related to Voldemort?"

Her eyes widened as she heard him actually using human cuss words. He removed his fingers from her neck. Black blood was staining his nails. The daredevils must have cursed him enough to bring those bloody nails to his lips and suck them like lollipops. "Does have a vinegar taste."

Penna smirked a bit despite being baffled. "You sir, are an insane, daredevil, scaly backed cockroach, Bug Fly!"

He smirked back at her. "Good. You're back." He leaned in and kissed the area of her neck that he had unintentionally injured. Hearing her moaning as his tongue laced through her blood-covered skin areas sounded like bells to him. He pulled back and showed her the flower. "Like this?"

To answer his question, she gently held the flower by the stem, inadvertently touching his own fingers. The flower fully bloomed, causing several orbs of pollen to shine and float around the petals like fireflies acting like stars.

Marius gasped happily. "The Night Violet only blooms when soulmates touch it. That means..."

"That you need to shut up." Penna let go of the flower and pulled Marius into a kiss, stunning both of them since she would normally never initiate a kiss, but both ended up enjoying it. The prince massaged her waist as he held her during their kisses. One of his hands began to play with her shirt's fabric until she caught him in the act.

"Wait."

"Too soon?" Marius looked disappointed and briefly down at the white bed sheet. He had hoped to use the Martial Mating Procedure on her tonight to A, see if she was fertile enough, and B, to attempt ripping off more Horcruxes.

Penna snapped her fingers and the Drink Me potion vial appeared right between her fingers. "I want it to be private."

His mouth went up to a smirk. They both took a sniff of the potion, resulting in them shrinking and finding themselves laying on the white lily petal blanket that now felt more like a fuzzy field.

Holly's voice: _Chico, how many times must I te suplico_

Marius had to keep his lustful drool to himself when he saw her lying below him. Who would have thought for even just a second that, with all the exposing clothing she wore during her evil career, she didn't wear much in underwear and bras? His eyes examined hungrily the areas from her incredibly thin black thong underwear to those lavender orbs that glowed from the dim candlelight, prompting him to start removing his own exoskeleton armor and leaf tunic, which gave Penna the turn to marvel at his hidden muscles.

 _To stay deep in the night conmigo? Oh-oh-oh-oh_

"Bug Fly...Mmh." Penna felt herself moaning and shivering as Marius gave her five-minutes long butterfly pecks on the lips and neck. It was a good thing they were small enough for no guard outside to hear them or for an Auradonian paparazzi to bother them. They wouldn't have believed it themselves if they found out that Penna De Mort was yelping from the pleasurable ear nibbles she was getting from her boyfriend.

 _Quítame if you must, chico, but just stay conmigo._

 _Make el amor if you want, but just stay conmigo._

"Oh...OH MY GOSH!" Her senses were getting wild. For years, she felt like misery and depression had weighed her heart down, but now she was feeling like an hourglass being extracted of its sand when Marius then dedicated each of her bosoms with ten minutes of sucking and getting rid of the pain.

"Taste good," he commented lecherously after rubbing his thumb over her humid nipples and putting it in his mouth.

Then came the moment he was the most anxious off after he removed her underwear. The prince took a deep breath and thrust in two fingers, which received quite a scream from Penna. As he pulled them out, he caught sight of a single black blood drop falling onto the white lily petal blanket and expanding its way through it like dark weed roots.

He felt even more relieved as he continued to have the longest night of his life with Penna. Not only was he the first male to be daring enough to deflower the daughter of the Dark Lord and pull off three more Acupuncture Needles, he managed to see that she was indeed fertile.

Which meant to the pleased ones that he could have her as his queen.

 _So chico, hold me as tight as you can._

 _So chico, kiss me mientras tu vida. Ah-ah-ah-ah._

 _I'm asking this una vez. Don't make me say it dos veces._

 _I want you to make this the longest night of my life._

 _So chico, make me bailar the way my heart is._

 _So chico, love me until termine la noche. Eh-eh-eh-eh._

 _I'm telling this una vez. Don't make me repeat it dos veces._

 _I want this to be the longest night of my life._

 _Meanwhile, in a hotel in midtown_

Ruby's phone rang right after she finished drinking her cup of coffee. She picked up and answered to the caller she recognized. "Hi, Dad."

" _Hello, sweetheart,_ " Bruce Wayne said with a genuine tone through the line. " _Thank you for convincing your friend Manny to send me a large sample of that drug. Speaking of which, how is Martin doing?_ "

"Not well," Ruby said grimly. "First, he had a fever freakout, then he had to move around in a wheelchair, and now he's sleeping in his room at the hotel I rented. He's sleeping _deeply,_ Dad! And I know it's fishy because I know he's a light sleeper!"

" _Goodness. What about Fa Li_?"

"Radiance and the rest of the Everfree Sector crew are doubling their protection of Lonnie. Looks like our new enemy was clever enough to give a concussion to her boyfriend, the most powerful VK god who would have blasted them to moon dust if he found out they were after Lonnie." She calmed down a bit. "So, what did you find out about the drug?"

 _"It's very complex, but I was able to detect a large quantity of Tiger Breath, blood samples, and products that my resources say only belong in the Dragon Hall Potions Chemistry lab_."

"Since Mia developed it, all the Tiger Breath did was weaken Martin rather than brainwash him like it would have if the user had magic," Ruby assumed. "And I think I remember Professor Yzma's class teaching us some of her classroom's paralysis toxins...But what about the blood samples?"

" _It would seem like Mia Zola has been sampling the bloods of each of her Raft inmates in order to create this dangerous chemical compound, which leads me to a peculiar point. Ruby, can you remind me again who Martin's mother was?_ "

"His mom?" Ruby was confused. Aside from the repeated references of Martin's undesired matricide act and King Louie once mentioning that she was a zoologist, Ruby didn't know much about Martin's mother. "Barely any information. Why?"

" _Well, I covered some footage of the incident you told me about. I recognized her instantly since I met her once during a Gotham charity event, but her medical records confirm that ever since a childhood accident, she was unable to perform labor at all. Not even egg donation could cure her_."

"What?"

" _And then when I scanned the blood samples, one of them shared a relative genetic code than your boyfriend._ "

"Dad, are you being serious?" Ruby was unable to digest the words of her father, the world's greatest detective. "Are you saying that all this time, Martin...didn't actually commit matricide? That is... _real_ mother is still out there?"


	28. Field Trip Of Thin Ice

Chapter 28: Field Trip Of Thin Ice

Morning sunrises fell upon everyone in Auradon the next morning. With the rain from last night, there were quite some dewdrops dangling on the grass and leaves, making it seem like the area was brightening up with the light of crystals. Birds were singing, the sun was shining...

"It's too early for this..." Marius muttered quietly to himself when he woke up feeling the sunlight coming through the fabric of his tent blinding him. He rubbed his horns' sides. The effects of the Drink Me potion had worn off somewhere late last night after he and Penna finally fell asleep, and due to the small size condition they had used, it was no surprise when he woke up to find himself feeling an inch cold by sleeping on top of the white lily petal blanket, which was still stained from his successful attempt.

To make this clear, he had done the one thing that, if the Dark Lord were still around, would get him killed: falling in love with Penna De Mort and seducing her to the point where they had sex.

Penna was cuddling next to him as if laying her head near his warm heart would comfort her and her unusually cold body. Marius gently caressed her arm, causing her to shift in her sleep. It was stunning how, from what he had seen, she breathed rapidly in her sleep whenever she was ill or in a bad emotional state, but when she was sleeping peacefully the same way she was right now, it was so slow. It was almost as if watching her sleeping in such stunning calmness made him understand the term 'Rest In Peace' that humans liked to use whenever it came to funerals.

Her back came into view. Through her folded wings, Marius could see how her mark of villainy was losing its austere appearance from the first time he saw it to a still depressing by a degree condition. Now, with the five Kraken Acupuncture Needles she had left on her flesh, Penna had a mark representing a snake slithering into a twisted crescent moon. At the tip of that crescent moon, the marked girl was cuddling her arms and crying.

To be honest, he was still annoyed that he couldn't remove all the needles. Even though he had been very intimate with her, he was only able to remove three of those beastly needles.

"Just what is it that's preventing me?" He asked to himself as his hand slipped beneath the demon wings and touched one of the Kraken Needles that the serpentine crescent went through. Suddenly, everything around him seemed to whiten until it cleared.

"What the..." He looked down at himself. He looked like he was dressed in his normal attire, but he was glowing blue and he could see the floor through his hand. "This must be something spiritual."

His assumption was correct, because when he looked around, he saw that he was no longer in his tent but in some sort of stone castle room. Only this room had a few rotting wooden cabinets that were each occupied by a toilet and at the center of the room stood a stone cylinder decorated by sinks and mirrors. A glass window revealed a sunrise lighting up vast hills. This looked very much like the ancestor of bathrooms.

Sobbing was heard behind the cylinder of sinks. Marius flew as close as he could and gasped at the sight of a thirteen-year-old girl sobbing hysterically and some sort of humanoid serpentine girl with golden eyes trying to comfort her. What really made him gasp was that the first girl looked oddly familiar...

" _I...I can't believe he made me do this again, Bloodyle!_ " She cried.

Marius' eyes widened. That voice. The girl's appearance got clearer with the daylight as it revealed her black hair with teal strikes put together in a ponytail.

It was Penna, only she lacked her lavender skin, demon wings, elfish ears, and overall seductive body! Great Oberon, he couldn't believe it.

Touching the Kraken Needle was causing him to spiritually see Penna's past and to see her in her former, frail human form. Honestly, she looked just as frail as a sickly imp. He never imagined what she would look like with Caucasian skin.

So the girl Past Penna was talking to was Bloodyle Silisk, the daughter of the Basilisk and one of the monstrous snakes who acted as physical and emotional nurses to Penna since her father lacked any emotion for her. Marius had to admit, she looked a bit smaller than he imagined.

" _I'm so sorry."_ Bloodyle gave Penna a deep hug, which the latter returned strongly. " _I hate to see you suffer like this, but you know I can't stop the Dark Lord into imposing such horrible conditions on you. Murdering, ripping your soul, and then sealing the scars with Kraken Acupuncture Needles..._ "

" _It's not just that! He...He made me kill E...Emily!_ "

" _Who?_ "

Just then, the door began to open. " _I got to go, Penna. I'll see you later._ " She hissed something at the cylinder stone, which caused it to open a tunnel that helped Bloodyle slide her way through before it closed. Marius, still in his spiritual form, watched as the door to the bathroom opened and a fourteen-year-old boy came in. His auburn hair was cropped, his eyes were grass green, and he had an athletic built. Like Past Penna, he wore some sort of black robe with a silver-and-green tie.

" _Penelope?_ " His words caused Penna to blush viciously and get up.

" _Mandire, what do you think you're doing? This is the girls' bathroom!_ " She demanded.

" _The abandoned second floor girls' bathroom. Besides, I think Moaning Myrtle won't mind if I came to check up on you._ " He put a hand on Penna's shoulder. " _I can't believe you killed Emily Rosefinks. I mean, sure, she was just the Slytherin underdog, with her being a Mudblood and all..._ "

 _Wait a minute_ , Marius realized. Mandire? That name sounded exactly like the one of Penna's late first crush. So this boy... He must have been her old first love years before she was doomed to kill him. Marius couldn't help but feel a bit jealous as he watched the memory.

" _My problem is not that I killed a Mudblood, Mandire._ " Past Penna wiped away a tear. " _Did you see how I killed her?_ "

" _Penna, I was in detention._ " Mandire said this as if it were obvious. _"I only heard about the murder until I walked past Dumbledore defending you from the Minister of Magic and the parents of Rosefinks. They really want your head on a spike._ "

" _Can I blame them_?" Past Penna sighed as she brushed away Mandire's hand from her shoulder and walked towards the window. " _Even though I didn't want to, Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse made me kill their only child. And the worst part? He made me_ _ **strangle**_ _her. I STRANGLED Emily, Mandire, and watched her poor life slip out of her body rather than use the Killing Curse. It's like he was trying to make feel this desire to kill savagely."_ She cupped her mouth. " _Emily was innocent. She was Mudblood, but she did nothing to deserve me killing her._ "

Mandire walked towards her and just stood there, watching the landscape with her. " _You know, the Minister of Magic and the others might not see things this way, but I'm sure that Rosefinks and the rest of those damn souls You-Know-Who made you kill..._ _ **They**_ _know you didn't genuinely mean to kill them. One day, I'm sure, their souls will rest once forgiveness was given._ "

" _They'll never forgive the monster who killed them_." Penna shook her head.

" _You're not a monster, Penelope._ " Mandire looked at her. " _For once, you just need to hit the break bell and stop trying to see the worst out of everything you've done. Instead, you should start to evolve as someone who can forgive herself._ "

The environment suddenly faded and the old bathroom turned back into his tent. Marius' wrist felt clutched, which was confirmed when he looked and saw Penna's hand clutching it. She glared at him, sternly and coldly.

"Usually I'd murder the first person who tries to peek at my old school memories," Penna said seriously. "So for future reference, Bug Fly, _don't snoop through my stuff_."

 _Hours later, in front of the Auradon campus_

"OK, people, listen up!" Mr. Barkin shouted at the mixed group of students from both schools, along with the trio from the Raft, stood facing him. "To keep your mind distracted from our little new daily problems, our new duo of headmistresses have decided that a small educational field trip would do very nicely to keep your minds at ease."

"A good majority of the events we busted our ass off have been cancelled and we're on the verge of sharing a bus with a trio of foreign criminals," Sparrowfire said while he used a finger to point at the Raft trio. Dwight was busy having a conversation with Otrera while Leona just bit her nails nervously at the sight of the bus and Aaron just played on his video game console...wherever it was his or stolen.

"You go to school with criminals, Grayson!" Mr. Barkin snapped. "I hope you remember that when you spend the next Saturdays of your life in detention. Now everyone get inside the buses! We're going on an educational field trip to the Museum of Cultural History, and yes, I am removing points if you try to even snore once we're there!"

The students groaned and made their ways to the two buses. Because of the small attitude Penna had this morning, Marius decided to give her some air. While she went on with her normal classes, he decided that he'd take a break by going to the museum. Kit and Junk joined him.

"Shame that your cousin had to go back to the Fae Realm once she got a message from he mother summoning her back home," Kit said while the three of them took a seat in the middle rows. The bus took off and started driving away from the school. "I bet she would have liked to come on this trip."

"Sure." Marius shrugged. He was feeling rather grumpy today, mostly because of what he had seen from Penna's past and the fact that he really disliked being away from her.

He spotted Lonnie sitting in front of him. Perhaps she knew something about his problem. He tapped her on the shoulder, which got her attention away from her tablet. "You're Artemis Nightmare's girlfriend, right?"

"Yes and no, he still hasn't woken up," she sighed in frustration. "And I don't want to start talking about my kidnapping attempt..."

"Oh, it's not about that." He told her the entire thing that he had seen in Penna's old memory. "So you see, I was just wondering, since _you_ date an expert in dreams and memories, maybe you might know something about this."

Lonnie put a hand under her chin and pondered for a while. "Being with me has caused to have some... spiritual connections with others, but Penna is the one who's the most ripped out. Artemis didn't even any Memorbs..."

"Memorbs?"

"They hold dreams and memories. Don't get me started. Anyway, while he had Memorbs of almost every single existing individual, he never managed to get one from Penna. Apparently she took the opportunity to jinx her spiritual awareness once she figured out that he could dream hop. That's why she labeled him as her nemesis in the first place back in the Isle: not only was he as powerful as her, but he could have tried to search through her spirituality and make her spill all her secrets. But if you managed to see one of her memories just by touching a Kraken Needle, it probably means that she's losing control of her spiritual awareness and people can easily see the memories that scar her the most emotionally."

"Like Mandire's death." Marius concluded.

"Penna's not the kind of person to easily forget who she kills," Lonnie said, "but Mandire was the one death she knows she'll never forgive herself. Ever."

"I still can't believe how human she looked in the memory," Marius said quietly. "How does one sorcerer manage to emotionally ruin his offspring? By Oberon's horns, why did he even bother having a child if he was just going to use her? Did he even think about creating a legacy like I know most villains would do?"

"Yes, it was a big shock for all of us," Forkjølelse Vinter said as he knelt from his seat in order to join the conversation. "I was there during the battle and I was there when we saw that Penna, unlike most of us in the days, wanted to be nothing like her father. She even had a portrait of him that she used to toss weapons at, and the worst part was that all this time, what she thought was her plan to use megassence for world domination was actually her father planning to resurrect himself into her body and erase her out of existence so that he could use her immortality to add on to his life."

"Wait. He _wasn't_ into global domination?" Kit arched an eyebrow.

"In chronological order, Voldemort valued immortality, power, and revenge while Penna valued the reversed order," Lonnie listed. "Sure, he wanted the world to be his own, with pureblooded wizards as the favored citizens and the others as slaves, but because of his fear of death, he valued immortality more. That's why he created his own Horcruxes. The only problem is that while the Horcruxes keep you from dying or aging, it doesn't stop the Horcruxes from aging themselves, so of course he needs extra and younger Horcruxes to fill up the old, dying ones. That's why he had Kraken Acupuncture Needles dipped with his own blood inserted into Penna everytime he forced her to create a Horcrux. Because in case his were destroyed, he'd use his blood link with Penna to infiltrate her body and use hers."

"The monster," Marius said in horror. He never believed that all the needles he had pulled out of his girlfriend were actually old portals for her father that led straight into her system.

"How come you know all this?" Junk asked Lonnie with a suspicious eyebrow.

"Because when he revealed himself during the battle and morphed into his physical self, he had me separated from the others on purpose." Lonnie grimaced at the memory. "He shamelessly revealed to me that this was only the beginning of his plan to sire hundreds of descendants that he would use to create more Horcruxes and transfer himself into their bodies, regenerate, and so on. And since I happened to be the descendant of an ancient powerful being and I had dark potential, he thought he'd keep me immortal as well. He...wanted me to be his Death Eater Queen, even if it meant brainwashing me." She shivered. "I still have nightmares about the black dress and makeup he tried to make me wear. Undressing before him was even worse."

"Remind me again the creepiest thing he ever said to you before he strapped you to the chair?" Forkjølelse asked.

"Sure. I still can't decide between 'And with such a perfect form that holds clear potential at giving healthy heirs, my eternal immortality will be granted with you as my Death Eater Queen' or 'Believe me, in 39 minutes from now, you're going to be grateful that I changed you forever.'"

Kit whistled. "Wow. I can't believe I'm saying this, but from what I've just heard, this guy actually makes the Fairy Queen's ex-fiancé look like a harmless crook."

"Lucky you." Lonnie muttered and went back to her tablet. "Got any other annoying questions?"

"I do." Forkjølelse raised his hand. "Since I'm still a newbie in Auradon, what's up with this relay race we have to do next for the Pride Games?"

"The _Tri-Relay Race_ , Fork." Lonnie corrected him. "It's the final, most important, and by far most dangerous event in the Pride Games overall." She showed them a map of the city with a traced line going from green to orange and red. "In each segment of the Pride Games, when the games reach their end, the competing schools must face each other in a relay race divided into three stages. The colors of the line indicate the levels of difficulty."

"So, from Auradon Prep to midtown, it's green," Forkjølelse noted, "and from midtown to the...Global Stadium, its orange, and the stadium itself is red. I never heard of the Global Stadium. Is it new?"

"I'll get there," Lonnie promised.

"So, what do you guys have to do to win the race?" Kit asked.

"Yeah, that's where it's tricky. See, in each of the Pride Games segments, the Tri-Relay Race was performed differently depending on the school who hosted the games, but since it's Auradon Prep versus St Luther, they mushed them together." She pointed at the line. "We leave Auradon Prep and run all the way to that point in midtown, where we must past the turn to our players who will proceed to motocross their way to the Global Stadium, where the final players will have to face of in a martial arts tournament. Whoever wins the final round of that part wins the Ultimate Golden Cup for his or her school and gets the advantage of tripling their school's amount of won trophies and medals for the Pride Games."

"But the schools are tied up," Marius pointed out.

"Both never lost the Pride Games nor did they get the disadvantage of facing each other. Whoever wins this year's Tri-Relay Race will go down in history." Lonnie tapped on her tablet and scrolled down a list. "For each part, there are six players, three for each school. There's already the list of who to expect."

First Round: Running

1.) Ebony Ombre

2.) Shadow Junior

3.) Haya Yu

4.) Hu Xiongmao

5.) Minuit Sparkle

6.) Karlos Python

Second Round: Motocross

1.) Dusk Shimmer

2.) Moonlight Glimmer

3.) Edina Lipsky

4.) Ruby Kyle

5.) Rita Rico

6.) Pufflette Muttonfudge

Third Round: Martial Arts

1.) Ronilda Stoppable

2.) Fa Li Lonnie

3.) Penna De Mort

4.) Martin Fiske

5.) Meirong Dashi

6.) Cassie Mushu

"I just hope I don't have to face Cassie," Lonnie said with a nervous grimace on her lips. "Since she's training to be my spiritual guardian, she's bound to act weak so that I can have the advantage."

"Wait." Marius grabbed the tablet out of Lonnie's hands and looked at the list. "Why is Penna on the list of martial arts?"

"Oh, no..." Forkjølelse facepalmed himself. "Isle of the Lost, nine years ago... To protect her pride when one Hun soldier dared to intimidate her, Maleficent bragged that she could beat Penna De Mort in a hand-to-hand combat. No one had to guess that De Mort would fly straight into town from her lair in Mt Vesuvius on a Saturday night and take less than a minute to humiliate Maleficent with her only martial art style, the Northern Snake Style."

"I know that style." Lonnie put her right hand up in a position that made her look like an Egyptian illustration. "When the martial artist uses it, it's primarily to weaken the opponent's joints before bringing in the final blow. It doesn't kill like the illegal seven chakra blocking technique, but it really destabilizes."

"And thanks to her childhood living with snakes, De Mort can easily slip around."

"Even with her massive demon wings?" Kit arched an eyebrow.

"Hello, that's the whole point!" Forkjølelse snapped. "That's why Voldemort created her aside from wanting to use her to take over the world! With her insane DNA mixture and impossible knowledge of magic, fighting, and torture techniques hardwired into her like data on a supercomputer, she is a walking killing machine who couldn't say no to her master telling her to do something evil once he says so! I mean, have you ever heard her refer to Voldemort as 'Father', 'Daddy', or maybe even a simple 'Dad' like the rest of us VKs do with our own parents?"

The bus suddenly halted. "Great cheese and crackers!" Mr. Barkin exclaimed.

"I know, right?"

"Uh, Fork, I think he meant _what the hell is that_?" Lonnie pointed at the window.

 _Seconds later_

They managed to force their way out of the bus and through the crowd of confused people and reporters who took shots of the museum, which would have seemed normal if a third of the museum wasn't covered by a giant mass of ice shards pointing upward like a giant sculpture made of cold, sharp porcupine quills.

"OK, I am officially weirded out and I've seen a bunch of weird things ever since we came here!" Junk said.

"Mr. Vinter!" A museum guard came running towards them. "Aren't you an ice expert?"

"Yes?" Forkjølelse arched an eyebrow.

"These things just grew out of nowhere!" He waved a plastic bag with a small piece from the ice shard mass. "Now this monster is covering more than five exhibits and we have some visitors and curators trapped in there!"

"Let me see this." The ice prince took the sample from the bag and waved his spare hand above it, causing the ice shards to glow with ominous purple colors trapped in layers of ice. "This ice... it's neither natural nor magical. It's man-made!"

"Man-made as in purposely carved by a sculptor?" Lonnie asked. "You know, like how your dad runs an ice shop back in the Isle?"

"I mean man-made as in fabricated in a lab. I'm no expert in science, but I can still detect the molecules of..." His eyes widened and instantly shoved the shard back in the bag. "This shard has dangerously delayed radioactive chemicals! If we don't get rid of this ice before the sun melts it entirely, we can say goodbye to that museum and the people in it!"

"Have the crowd evacuated! Now!" Marius ordered Mr. Barkin.

"You heard him, people!" the man shouted. "Move out before we're nuked..."  
BAM!

Another section of the museum exploded. Seeing that many of the debris were flying towards the crowd now screaming, Forkjølelse threw an ice blast at the debris, turning it into ice chunk that exploded into small drops of snow. Some little kids giggled at the sight of snow in the end of April.

"Wow." Marius whistled.

"Hang on." Dwight rubbed his chin in realization. "Purple genetic ice?"

"Seriously?" Leona groaned. "Is Zemo's boss _this_ desperate?"

"MOVE IT, LOSERS!"

The ice shard mass suddenly moved in curves as if creating a passage over the surface. Scratching noises were heard, the same kind that knives made when moving on smooth ice.

The same kind of scratching that an ice skater would make in the Winter Olympics during the speed skating.

A girl skated on the ice with perfect agility. Fork instantly spotted her and summoned an iceberg to block her path. Her path got destroyed and caused her to fall, but that didn't stop her from doing a flip and landing elegantly on the ground like a winner, despite the fact that she wore a pair of purple ice skates and carried a golden chest with four animal emblems on it.

"Not bad...for an ice amateur," she snorted in a perky tone as she held up the chest in one hand while dusting off her loud pink and blue crystal ruffled dress. Her chocolate brown and bright blonde hair was tied up in a bun and decorated with blue beads and a crystal hair elastic that matched her dress.

"How dare you all me an amateur while you can't break into a museum without making a mess?" Forkjølelse demanded as he clenched his fists. "At least I would do it cleanly!"

"Let's see, we don't know her, you don't know..." Lonnie thought before turning to Dwight and Leona. "She's your neighbor?"

"Sector neighbor, actually." Aaron rolled his eyes.

"People of Auradon, this is Vannabella. Vannabella, people of Auradon." Leona drily made the introductions as if they were all in a café shop and casually introducing each other before offering to buy each other a cup of coffee. "Or as we like to call her..."

" _Vain Bella_!" Dwight, Leona, and Aaron exclaimed together while snorting at Vannabella, who weirdly smiled while forcing herself to hide the displeasure in her eyes. She smiled so widely, it freaked even Mr. Barkin.

"Does she always smile that much?" He asked Dwight.

"As long as you don't mention silver or bronze...AAAH!" Dwight barely dodged ice shard daggers thrown at him by Vannabella.

"DON'T YOU DARE MENTION THOSE REPULSIVE MEDALS!" She screamed.

"So you're the one who created this ice!" Forkjølelse pointed at her ice skates. They breathed out a purple steam that matched the ice. "Don't you know that you could kill us all?"

"News flash, I don't care." Vannabella shrugged before winking at Aaron. "By the way, thanks for that text last night. I would have _never_ been able to find this baby if you hadn't told me!" She waved the chest she was holding.

Everyone gasped and stared at Aaron, who clearly didn't deny his act. He merely shrugged, much to their shock. " _You_ backstabbed us?" Lonnie exclaimed.

"And this surprises you?" Aaron asked Lonnie. He looked at Vannabella and quickly dodged while Lonnie saw too late that Vannabella shot an ice blast at her, trapping her from within.

"Let her go!" Marius demanded. "If you do, we won't have to resort to violence!"

"And Lonnie won't have to be nuked!" Forkjølelse pointed out.

"Hey, that's not fair, Vannabella!" Aaron snapped while he and his accomplices stepped up and faced their inmate. "Zemo's boss told _us_ to do the kidnapping and get the chest's location while _you_ got the chest!"

Vannabella chuckled and ice-skated around them. When she skated, the blades spit thin ice in front of her, helping her move easily. "You honestly think that his new master only made an impossible offer with you and the others whose parents he holds hostage? You pathetic losers. While he blackmailed you worthless First Sector kids, he made offers to us from the Second and Third Sectors. Offers that go beyond our black hearts' wildest dreams." She then skated through the crowd, dominating them as if they were ants. "You Auradon losers are pathetic. You think that rewards and prizes just come to you because you are good-hearted, benevolent, or come from great monarchs." She stopped in front of the frozen Lonnie and put a hand on the ice. "But you're wrong! Life is nothing but a competition! When you do everything to compete and crush all opposition, you get the gold that you deserved, that _you fought_ to earn!" She looked back at her inmates coldly. "You three couldn't even kidnap this girl and the half-blood. Do you think I'm just going to take the chest with me to the master and not bring in this girl in order to get even more gold?"

"Time out!" Marius made the timeout sign. "You're just doing this for gold? Like, the golden material?"

"What else?" Vannabella used a tone on him that dared to ask him if he was stupid.

"Well, it's just that I thought Auradon Prep had a student who can _actually_ make gold...But you know, literal gold that you can only get if you surrender the stolen goods..." He stopped talking when Vannabella suddenly shook his hand in greedy giddiness.

"DEAL!"

 _Later_

This time, everyone was shooting glares at Ben and Marius for allowing in another Raft rogue in Auradon Prep.

A majority of the VKs were ticked that not only was the new one insane, but they were purposely using Amanda Von Stiltskin, who was now sitting by a spinning wheel in the gym and spinning straw into gold while Vannabella, like a crazy drunk miser, hoarded the gold and kept demanding Amanda to spin more gold the same way a spoiled brat demanded her parents for a plush toy.

A majority of people were angry at Dwight, Leona, and Aaron when they confronted them in Fairy Godmother's office.

"You hypnotized me and used my niceness against me," Otrera looked angrily at Dwight.

"You made us fall asleep and stole my mirror," Evie told Leona.

" _You_ told Vannabella where my safe was!" Penna slapped at Aaron, who didn't respond, while she hugged the chest fiercely. "You were trying to have me killed!" She then glared at Ben. "You told me the museum was a safe place to hide my safe as an unsuspecting exhibit, but _no_ , I had to _listen_ to you!"

"What was in that safe anyway?" Marius asked.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I'M GOING TO PUT THIS IN A SAFER PLACE!" Penna stormed out of the office with the chest in her arms, slamming the door behind her so loudly that even the grandfather clock in the office stopped ticking.

"If it makes you feel better, the safe contains her fourteen Horcruxes," Aaron told Marius. This only infuriated the prince, who proceeded to punch Aaron in the face. "GEEZ!" The delinquent complained. "Is it a couple thing between you two to punch me?"

"Maybe next time I'll punch you in the throat and make you mute, if it makes you feel better." He snapped drily at Aaron. He then confronted Dwight and Leone. "You two disgust me. This is how you treat your hosts? By tricking them to use their generous natures against them to harm innocent people?"

"I'm sorry, but this is coming from the guy who aced at seducing the most apathetic witch in the universe and double aced at using her emotions for him as cover while he plucked the needles from her back?" Aaron spoke up in defense for Dwight and Leona, who said nothing but tilted their heads as if Aaron made a point. "And honestly, why do you even defend these people? Do you even know what your girlfriend's trinkets can do?"

Marius froze. _Do you even know what your girlfriend's trinkets can do?_ A very good question that Marius realized. He turned to look Fairy Godmother and Ben coldly with his eyes.

"You could have controlled her," he muttered.

"Your Highness..." Fairy Godmother began.

He held out his hand, silencing her in the process.

"Frankly, _anyone_ could have controlled her," Leona pointed out bluntly. "We don't deny we overheard the conversation you had on the bus," she told the Fae Realm prince.

"Apparently you have no sense of privacy." Marius scowled at her. "Honestly, what kind of criminals are you? Why do you even tell us this?"

"Because unlike a majority of people on the Isle of the Lost and in Auradon, and kind of like your girlfriend, we are VERY bad liars, so we see no point in denying our actions." Aaron said. "Did they bother mentioning what you _could_ do if you were holding one of Penna De Mort's Horcruxes in your hand." Aaron got up and rudely plucked one of the needles Otrera kept as hair decorations. "You know what I really like about your mom?" He told her coldly. "She had needles that could pierce people's eyes while sewing buttons over them."

"You're a barbarian," she muttered. She quickly glanced at Dwight with a betrayed look that said ' _How could you possibly be friends with this guy?_ '

Aaron knocked on the wooden structure of the grandfather clock while the others glared at him. "Let's assume this piece of junk here is a Horcrux belonging to Penna De Mort. It has a piece of her soul." He clutched onto it, making sure that they could all see how much effort he was putting into clutching it. "Physically speaking, I can't crush it to pieces because with all those Kraken Needles she had, only _she_ could crush her Horcrux with her bare hands if she wanted. The only thing I would be doing right now is put her through a world of physical and internal pain that is SO unbearable, she'd do anything you asked her to do if you stopped the torment."

Marius felt like ice had gone through his lungs while Aaron continued. "But since _you_ removed a majority of her Kraken Needles, she's becoming quite vulnerable, so this is what would happen if I did this to the Horcrux with _any_ magical item."

He stabbed the grandfather with the needle. Purple veins of magic covered the antique and made it explode. Everyone ducked in order to avoid getting hit by the shards.

Marius was the most horrified of them all. He realized that he had done the most unimaginable thing he could have ever done. "I...I..."

"Everyone hates your girlfriend more than the plague." Aaron plucked the needle back in Otrera's hair before slouching back on his chair. "Now that the link between her Kraken Needles and her Horcruxes are shattered, _anyone_ could use a magical item and stab her Horcruxes one by one, which will cause her to feel the pain her soul pieces experience..."

"I heard it's like having electroshock therapy...inside your stomach." Dwight shivered, evidently disturbed by the mere idea. "And everytime you scream, it's like air is getting sucked out of you." He turned to Leona. "You know, like that time Randy broke out of the Third Sector once and all she did was harass you into screaming everytime you went to bed when you were bed?"

"I thought we agreed to never speak of this!" Leona punched Dwight, who fell off his chair.

"So yeah," Aaron resumed with a shrug to Marius. "One by one, the Horcruxes will get destroyed, she feels the pain, and by the time the last one is destroyed, it's bye-bye daughter of Voldemort. She'll turn into dust and dissolve straight into the Limbo, a spiritual prison I heard traps people between life and death. No more resurrections or afterlives or even any reincarnations in a new body as a new person."

"Penna...will be gone...permanently?" Marius covered his mouth.

"Like dust vacuumed by a hallway janitor." Aaron made a flicking gesture with his hand. "But hey, look on the bright side."

"How on earth is there a _good side_?" Marius snapped.

"Yep. The bright side is that you can blame both yourself for dooming your girlfriend and your future diplomatic allies for hiding the truth from you." Aaron smirked while everyone from Auradon just stared at him in shock. "Hey, can't blame a guy for using honesty as the best policy."

 _Meanwhile_

" **Well**?"

A dark figure sat in a throne made of twisted metal pipes in a very fitting dark room while he looked upon the girl in her late teenage years kneeling before him.

"As planned, Vannabella managed to fool them," she said. She got up and revealed the thing that her venom green skirt was hiding: a copy of the chest Vannabella was caught trying to steal.

Only the one Vannabella had was a fake. The one this girl had was the _real_ thing.

"With the substance Mia Zola managed to create with my pet's DNA, we were able to block the tracking spell Penna De Mort once casted on the chest," the girl continued as she presented the relic to the figure, who looked very pleased. "Right now, she doesn't even realize that what she thinks is her Horcrux safe is actually a false copy with false copies of her original trinkets in it."

" **Excellent work, Ethelinda**." The figure applauded her. " **I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but so far your group of people have managed to prove themselves completely more competent than my former supporters.** "

"Unlike any mere villains you've ever encountered my Lord, any villain from the Third Sector of the Raft is very ambitious and efficient in their work when a reward is on the line." Ethelinda nodded her head.

" **And a reward, you shall have. Please, bring forth your scepter**."

Ethelinda nodded and picked up a scepter with a wooden handle and a round golden top with a snake crown and two green carved Es. She handed the scepter to the dark figure as if she were handing it out to a king instead. " **Now I know your pet is sleeping inside this, so I will do this quickly**." He took the scepter in one hand and waved his other hand over the golden orb, creating a green cloud of magic to hover over it before eventually slithering its way inside it. " _ **Scepter, accept my new offer. Your owner has well served me and hence I give thee her reward**_." Once the glowing was over, he returned the scepter to Ethelinda. " **The scepter, along with your pet, are now enchanted. Use them well to unleash your evil on Auradon and to kill your enemies when the time comes.** "

"I am grateful my Lord." Ethelinda bowed. "I assure you, when I'm through with every single royal in the world, there won't be a single castle with subjects who won't remember you. Banners of your mark will forever stain the peace."

" **How sadistic**." The figure nodded with satisfaction. " **I am eager to see you and your efficient allies wreak havoc during the Tri-Relay Race, because that will be the last one Auradon will ever have.** "


	29. Mixed Emotions Lead To Weakness

Chapter 29: Mixed Emotions Lead To Weakness

"OK, I know they behaved rather ungratefully," Charles said, "but is the force field seriously necessary?"

Tensions were silent but obvious in the cafeteria at dinnertime. Because of the events that had occurred, Ben had no choice but to keep the Raft VKs concealed in a force field. Positively speaking, it sounded better than putting them in a local sheriff station, but they still got bad glares from the other students. Some even shot the glares at Ben, mentally asking him why on earth he just didn't dispose of them. Unlike the VKs from the Isle, these four definetly showed that if they were to get a grade for redemption, they could go lower than F-.

"I don't know what I can do." Ben sighed as he looked at his untouched plate. "I never thought I'd say this, but trying to give villain kids a chance for a better life is harder than I expected."

"To be fair, Ben, you were thinking about the kids from the Isle," Dusk Shimmer pointed out as she dared to sit next to them at the same table. "No one knew that the Raft was still a thing, so how on earth could you have been ready for a group of delinquents that don't even exist in the current records."

Ben briefly looked away to the table where the Raft VKs were sitting. Dwight, Aaron, Leona, and Vannabella didn't even speak or whisper to each other. Aside from exchanging blaming glares and just doing nothing, they pretty much just sat there like a bunch of little kids under a time out.

"You know, I managed to convince Tara Sam Scam to get her boyfriend to hack into the government files." Charles pulled a golden folder full of papers in it. "Behold our guests' criminal records." He handed it to Ben, who eagerly took it.

"You are one heck of a genius," Dusk said.

"Eh. Using my resources to break into other people's privacy as info for my gossip is what I do." Charles shrugged. He blinked at Dusk. "Isn't your bonded Troll with you?"

"Oddly enough all the Troll Teens got a spring illness called Troll Pox," Dusk said. "Gladiola said that they just need a day or two to relax."

Ben flipped through the papers. "Unbelievable. It contains almost everything about them from their birth certificates to their hobbies, favorite crimes, worst fears, and the highest things they've ever done in their lives. With all the scans and security footage of the Raft, they got their lives analyzed and scanned." He pulled out a couple sheets of paper pinned together with a paper clip. "Look at this. This is the profile of Vannabella."

He passed the paper to Dusk, who managed to quickly read through everything. "It says that her last name is Rídegel..."

"Rídegel?" Charles frowned. "Hey, that's the last name of Jacques, a French-Canadian ice dancer."

"You heard of him?" Ben asked.

"Remember how Aaron's dad used to be a TOTAL DRAMA contestant? Well after the reality show was cancelled, it was replaced by a more stable and still continuing show called THE RIDONCULOUS RACE. Jacques Rídegel and his partner Josee were professional Canadian Olympic ice dancers who participated in the race solely to get over their complete humiliation of winning a silver medal during the Olympics. They had gotten so many penalties for causing sabotages that even the host didn't like them. Fortunately they ended up with losing the finale by ending up in third place. I know all this because my father actually showed me clips of the series in order to lecture me on the sins and blasphemy hidden in competitive reality shows. Seriously, these guys were creepy enough to smile all the time just for the camera crew, it's bad enough that 'Rídegel' almost sounds like the French translation for 'laugh of frost'."

"Yep. Says here in Vannabella's profile that her parents are indeed Jacques and Josee. Apparently the authorities wanted to spare the Isle villains from Josee's vile tantrums." Dusk looked further at the document. "Uh. It further says here that due to an issue while Josee was in labor, Vannabella was born with crippled legs, and since they wanted her to be an ice dancer like them, they had a local surgeon perform an experimental surgery on Vannabella." She gasped. "Her ice-summoning skates...are her actual feet!"

"Let me see that!" Charles snatched the document and skimmed through it. "Claustrophobia, a lust for gold that will actually hypnotize her...Ah. Yep. Experimental feet." He looked further through the documents. "Wow. Apparently Leona's afraid of anything that can be dangerous, but the one being she's the most terrified is Randy Boggs, a Third Sector villainess born from the monster Randall. Apparently, Randy managed to escape from her cell only once and the only thing she did was not escape but seriously harass Leona, which is why Leona is too afraid to use her own magic to defend herself against the camouflaging monster.

"Wow. And on Aaron's profile, it says that after Aaron was born, his mother completely ditched him and his father and Duncan made sure that his son would grow up to be apathetic so that way his feelings for other people won't become weaknesses. That's why, according to the document, Aaron never admitted to fellow inmate Carly Courtney that he actually liked her." He pulled out a photo attached to the profile. It was a black-and-white image of Aaron Duncan walking through some sort of hallway. Judging by how young he looked in that image, the picture could have been taken around the same time as Ben's coronation. Aaron looked like he was passing by and ignoring a girl three years younger than him. Despite the lack of colors in the photo, it seemed pretty evident that the girl was a reading glass-bearing Hispanic, had light brown hair and bangs tied up by gray ribbons into a curly bun, wore a matching grey school girl outfit like those from British boarding schools, and obviously looked sadly at the passing Aaron.

"The poor thing," Dusk looked at the image before quickly glancing at the indifferent Duncan. "I bet he's not even aware that he might have hurt her feelings." She quickly grabbed a pen and wrote something on the back of the paper. The boys watched as she got up and walked over to the force field bubble, where she 'happened' to accidently drop the piece of paper near Aaron's foot and walked back to the table. They watched as Aaron suspiciously picked up the paper and looked at it. His face softened a bit, much to their surprise. After looking at the back of the paper, he acted like nothing happened and tucked the picture in his collar.

"Yep. He _does_ care." Dusk smirked.

"What did you write on the paper?" Ben asked.

Before Dusk could answer, she heard the doors open and saw Gladiola, Glows Ruby, and Disco Jam walk through the rows of tables. Some students from St Luther tried to give them friendly greetings, but the Troll Teens gave them the cold shoulders. This caused Dusk to arch an eyebrow. This didn't look like the Troll Teens she knew. Usually they would always burst into song or try showering their classmates with cupcakes, glitters, or scrapbook invitations to their next party. Right now they were walking towards the table of the Raft VKs.

The latter fours looked up and nearly gawked when they saw the Troll teens. It was almost as if they had seen a ghost.

"What is up with them?" Charles asked.

Gladiola: _My, such mixed emotions._

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: _Oh, oh, oh, oh_

Gladiola: _Why all such the commotion?_

 _Just look at the state you are in._

 _It's like in a competition you just can't win._

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: _Oh, oh, oh, oh_

Gladiola: _Why do you even try working together_

 _When you are clearly a group of lone wolves?_

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: _Lone wolves._

Gladiola: _You know that honesty is better,_

 _So why not admit you work better alone?_

"That...doesn't sound at all like a song Gladiola and the other Trolls would generally sing." Dusk looked suspiciously at the Troll Teens walking in circles around the force field that was shielding the four teenagers in it while they desperately tried to cover their ears from the singing.

"Yeah, I don't think she's trying to _not_ stop the feeling," Charles said in deadpan.

The three Trolls: _Mixed emo, mixed emotions,_

 _Mixed emotions lead to weakness._

 _Why do we create SO much confusion?_

 _Admit it, you just can't stand each other_

 _Or work as one together._

 _You wished you'd just be alone in business._

One by one, Gladiola verbally harassed the Raft VKs.

Gladiola: (referring to Aaron) _You wished you didn't have to work with them._

(Referring to Dwight) _They made you hurt the one that beat your heart like a drum._

(Referring to Leona) _They keep treating you like the weak link._

(Referring to Vannabella) _They say you're vain and got nothing to think._

Disco Jam and Glows Ruby: _Ah, ah, ah_

The Three Trolls: _Mixed emotions! But you all hate each other!_

 _We told you, mixed emotions lead to weakness!_

 _Mixed emotions! You don't like working together!_

 _Because mixed emo, mixed emotions_

 _Lead to weakness!_

Suddenly, to the shock of everyone in the cafeteria, the Raft VKs started attacking each other: Dwight turned into a hollowgast and started punching Aaron, who only for the latter to lock him in a headlock.

"I never liked you in the first place!" Dwight snapped at Aaron.

The three Trolls: _Mixed_

"Well I'm not the one who got Stockholm Syndrome for the first button-eyed chick I met!" Aaron kicked Dwight in the stomach.

The three Trolls: _Emotions_

"Everything just _has_ to be about you getting a non-existing gold medal!" Leona shouted at Vannabella while the two girls engaged in a cat fight, with Leona taking off her clothes so that she could severely harm Vannabella.

The three Trolls: _Lead to weakness!_

"That's rich, Miss Everything-Is-Going-To-Kill-Me!"

Marius, who appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Vannabella's ankle before she could swing her skate at Leona's face. The Troll Teen slipped themselves away while Marius forced the four teenagers back on their seats and brutally punched each of them on the face, much to everyone's terror.

"The next misfit you make and I'll make sure I bring over my only cannibal goblin over to silence you permanently! GOT IT?" The Fae Realm Prince so loudly that anyone sitting about five feet near him had to make a run for it to the farthest seat. He hadn't looked so enraged ever since he came to Auradon... People actually saw the Raft kids being afraid of him. Leona was hugging Dwight tightly like a little girl hugging her big brother in the hopes that he'll protect her from bullies, Aaron looked petrified, and Vannabella was trying very hard to hide her terrified face with a smile.

"We'll behave," she said.

"Will you stop smiling?" Audrey asked from another table. "It's creeping me out!"

"It's not creepy." Vannabella shrugged as she sat upstraight on her chair. "I just happen to be a full-time smiling individual."

"She even does it in the bathroom." Leona snorted. "Even Texas McLean was freaked out when she recorded it...Oh, wait! The cameras she uses in the Raft bathrooms are usually _in the toilet_!"

"BURN!" Aaron high-fived Leona while Vannabella looked unamused.

"Yeah, who would have thought that her mark of villainy and an ugly mole would be located right between the...OW!" Dwight got punched by Vannabella and the two proceeded to tackle on their table.

"Eyeball breath!" She shouted at him.

"Silver paste face!"

"Limbless charmer!"

"Wannabe champion!"

"Should we stop them?" Leona asked Aaron as they dodged their hits.

"Eh." He shrugged. "You know the chorus. They fight, she throws tantrums, and ten minutes later, she'll be snoring like a pig in a county fair."

"OK, I'm out!" Marius said in exasperation and stormed out of the cafeteria. Wondering what could be bothering the Fae Realm prince so much, Dusk got up and left the others to deal with the Raft kids while she ran after him the hallway.

"Your Highness?" She called out once she managed to catch up with him and walk at his rhythm.

"I'm not in the mood," he downright told her. "Please leave me be."

"Normally I would," she said patiently, "but it's not how I function as a student body president. Unlike what you may think, I actually bother reaching out to people with issues and giving them advice." She saw him arch a skeptical eyebrow at her. "What? You thought that my job consists of only throwing parties or organizing the next pep rallies? That's the party planning committee's job. My position requires a lot of work."

"I'll take your word for it." He sighed. The prince pushed open the next door leading to the nearest outdoor courtyard, where he took the moment to pull out a fancy scroll with a green royal seal from his tunic and handed it to Dusk. "This just came to be today after the fiasco of the field trip."

The daughter of Sunset Shimmer unrolled the scroll and, with Marius' accord, read it out loud. "'Prince Marius Bogfae of the Fae Realm, after reading your mixed reports concerning your diplomatic expedition in Auradon and hearing the words of your own cousin Princess Daylight, it has been decided by the council that your expedition will soon get its final judgment by official members of the royal court other than you, your cousin, and the Sugar Plum Fairy.

"'In no late time, the royal family and some members of the council will join you and your cousin in Auradon until after your host's Tri-Relay Race event. Once that has occurred, it will help us determine whether or not your claims of Auradon being worthy trading allies is true or not, since any future relationship will be held responsible from you as future king.

"'In addition, Princess Daylight has mentioned you possibly finding a consort within the lady Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, daughter of the demoness Svjetla, descendant of Calcifer, and of Lord Tom Marvolo Riddle, descendant of Salazar Slytherin and Prince Yaveske, and your current love interest from Auradon. Since traditions will soon require you to publicly declare your Fairy Queen once you are crowned, the royal family would find it within their pleasure to meet the fortunate maiden who conquered your heart and with luck she shall obtain the Bog King Lysander and the Fairy Queen Marianne's blessing.

"'We look forward to seeing you, for you have been missed by all your subjects, and we are quite eager to meet your new partner. With all genuine care and respect, the Bog King Lysander and the Fairy Queen Marianne, aka Dad and Mom.'" Dusk looked up from the scroll once she finished reading it. "Wow. Your folks do know how to write a formal letter. So what worries you the most? The part of Auradon or the part of introducing Penna to them?"

"Both," Marius confessed as he sat down on a nearby bench. "What on earth am I going to do? They're expecting a peaceful country and right now there's the crisis of the villain kids no one knew existed and might cause a war, and then there's the part of Penna both still being crabby at me and going through her disorder..."

"Crabby? Disorder?" Dusk took a deep breath and spoke patiently. "Just sum it up in a few words."

"Fair enough." Marius sighed. "Last night at my camp, Penna and I had an...intimate moment together in which I took the advantage of removing more of her Kraken Needles and now she has only five left. And this morning, while she was still asleep, I unintentionally got sucked into an old memory of hers by touching one of her remaining needles. She didn't take it well because it was a memory of her being forced to kill someone in order to create a Horcrux and her first crush Mandire was trying to comfort her, so she didn't speak to me all day. She especially got worse when she left to take care of her Horcruxes after Vannabella tried stealing from them, and this made me feel worse because then Aaron said that because I removed a majority of her needles, I...I might have led the woman I love to her doom."

"I see." Dusk nodded. "And you're worried that she won't forgive you?"

"I wanted to ask for forgiveness earlier this afternoon, but that's when I spotted her starting to glitch. It was if removing her needles was the cause of her physically and mentally changing. One moment, she's fine, but then she morphs into the human Penelope, and then it's the evil Penna in the dark dress of doom. Feige and Minuit didn't let me in her house when I found out of her situation. Penna wasn't lying... when she said she was suffering from multiple personalities."

"Mmh." Dusk nodded before giving her conclusion to the prince. "Your Highness, you do have to keep in mind two important points: habit and adaptation."

"Habit and adaptation?" Marius asked.

"Look." Dusk sat at the end of the bench to give him space. "You know that Penna is already having a time A, being something other than her dad's evil slave, and B, being in a romantic relationship that's actually lasting a long time. It's already difficult for her to realize who she really is because most VKs around her...physical age, know who they are meant to be because of their earned marks of villainy, but since her own mark came because her dad manipulated it through the needles and its now dissolving because you removed most of them, she's still struggling to discover who she is."

"Are you saying I'm dooming her?" Marius asked in horror.

"No!" Dusk waved her hands in a 'Don't freak out' manner. "It's already happened before you came."

"Phew!"

"All I'm saying, your Highness, is that Penna needs time to both understand who she's meant to become and how ready she is to accept meaningful people into her life." She then shrugged. "You have to admit, even by accident, snooping through memories she personally dislikes is an invasion of privacy and trust is important in relationships. But she'll forgive you eventually."

"What a relief," Marius said happily.

"Yeah, just don't freak her out when you tell her, which you should, about your parents wanting to meet her," Dusk warned. "You'd be shocked, but a majority of existing parents don't like Penna De Mort."

"I'm sure my parents won't dislike her," Marius said in a self-reassuring tone. "Besides, my father used to be a villain and he married my mother. I'm sure they can relate... I just hope my grandmother doesn't start harassing Penna..."

"Speaking of marriage, does Penna know that you're, you know, considering giving her a marriage proposal?" Dusk asked.

"I never said that!" Marius said indignantly.

"Your parents' note implies this." She waved the scroll in her hands before he snatched it back and hid it in his tunic.

"So I happen to...really like her and I...may have told Fancy Parents I'd like to have Penna as my queen...and my reason for me having sex with her last night was to see if whether or not she could provide heirs...OH, WHO AM I KIDDING?" He exclaimed. "I _DO_ WANT PENNA DE MORT AS MY QUEEN!"

"Ding dong, ding dong!" Dusk said in a tune imitating 'Here Comes the Bride'. "This is actually the first time I hear somebody say that they want to have the Dark Lord' daughter at the altar! Priceless!"

"Sure, keep laughing," Marius rolled his eyes. "I don't think they can hear you all the way at the Isle."

"OK." Dusk turned serious all of sudden as if she had a switch that turned her like this. "How are you going to tell Penna all this?"

"Uh..." Marius had to mentally admit, Dusk Shimmer gave him a rather hard armor-piercing question. How can he tell his personality complex girlfriend with magical powers that his parents wanted to meet her and hopefully get their blessing for a possible marriage proposal offered by Marius? For one, it wasn't as easy as winning the lottery, which hardly ever happens to anyone on a scale from one to ten.

Dusk checked her wristwatch shaped like her solar motif and got up. "Well, I'd better go. I'm having a karaoke soirée with Sirenius at Sebastian's Groove Bar." She patted Marius in a comforting fashion. "Good luck with Penna."

"Thanks again for the advice."

Dusk left him and made a run for the parking lot, where she grabbed her motorcycle and drove her way out of Auradon Prep.

 _Penna needs time_ , Dusk's words echoed in his head. But the amount of time? That was something he still needed to figure out before...

"Meditating your royal issues, Bug Fly?"

Marius nearly screamed when Penna suddenly popped out of nowhere from the rose bush that stood behind him. She stepped out of it and sat on the bench as well. Marius noted that the roses withered once she got out.

"I never liked roses," Penna shrugged when Marius gave her a questioning look.

"I couldn't tell," he said. _And now she makes plants wither_ , he told himself. _My parents are SO going to like her._ "How long where you in that bush? And I'm not asking because of the flowers."

"Oh, long enough for me to hear an entire conversation." Penna crossed her legs covered by the black scale pants she was wearing with her teal high heeled boots (the heels looked like snakes bearing fangs) and a sleeveless halter top with a venom green and black pattern reminding him of the scales of a boomslang snake. Marius didn't know how Penna did it, but she managed to braid her hair in a slithering serpent way and kept it tied with a band made of white pearls.

Her bluish eyes looked sincerely at Marius. "Marius, why didn't you tell me about you worrying that I wouldn't forgive you?" She asked. "I mean, after how I reacted the first time, you probably now know to never do it."

"Yes, but then when you didn't want to talk to me all day or when you started screaming and then Aaron Duncan saying that I could have caused your death..." Marius tilted his head guiltily. "I almost began to believe that I was on the verge of losing the only woman other than my mother or cousin that I care so much and couldn't live without thinking of her at least ten times before going to bed."

Penna awed sweetly and held Marius by the hand. "That's one of the most romantic things you've ever told me ever since we first met!"

"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" Marius asked in relief.

"Of course not, but seriously, don't ever poke through my memories without my accord!" Penna said sternly. Marius nodded, with a glare that said he'd pretend he forgot what he saw. Penna straightened herself on the bench. "Besides, I wasn't just mad at you and the theft attempt of my Horcruxes. I...also had a bitter argument with Jessie while you went on the field trip."

"What happened? Please tell me you didn't find out about the entire prank involving Junk and my fairy guards' armors turning into harlequin colors."

"She did what?" Penna exclaimed.

"NOT RELEVANT!" Marius said in a panicked tone. "I mean, I'm sure you argued over a small thing."

"By small thing, you mean like _this_?" Penna pulled out a smartphone from her pants and showed a text containing an image to Marius. The image itself was a photo of a couple making out in a public ladies' room. If it wasn't strange enough that the picture was of Jessie Joker kissing Grinchelda May Whovier from St Luther directly on the lips while the latter was sitting on the bathroom sink and her dress was lowered so that the photographer had a good shot of her red bra, the text attached to the image was ten times worse.

WAY TO RAISE YOUR KIDS, DE MORT. FIRST YOUR ALICORN JEERLEADING BRAT SLEPT WITH JOCKS AND NOW YOUR CLOWNISH FREAK IS A LESBIAN WHORE. LOVE TO SEE HOW THE PEOPLE WHO HATE YOU REACT TO THIS IF THIS WERE PUBLIC.

"Unbelievable!" Marius exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Penna was infuriated. "Apparently this photo was taken last night in a pub and I got the text this morning! Jessie was a horrified as I was when I burst into her history class, dragged her in the hallway, and confronted her about it!"

"Why on earth would Jessie make out with Grinchelda in a _public_ bathroom?" Marius asked. "I mean, c'mon! It's unbelievable! I've had my passionate moments with you, but I do it privately and far away from the nearest witness!"

Penna rolled her eyes. "You're not getting my point, Marius, are you?"

"What? Is it because we can see Grinchelda's bra?"

"No."

Marius looked back at the text. "Is it because the text mentions Minuit sleeping with jocks? Is that part true?"

"No and yes!"

"Wait, you let Minuit sleep with _jocks_? Have you seen those like Chad Charming?"

"MARIUS!" Penna snapped. "I was angry at Jessie because she hid from me the fact that she's LESBIAN! Or if you prefer a simpler way, she's attracted to _girls_ rather than boys!"

"Penna, I know what homosexuality is," Marius said. "We have goblins back in the Fae Realm who can change their sex or act like the opposite of their gender. I mean, Kit and Junk's mother Stuff goes around acting like a goblin male, even going as far as not wearing any clothing like a normal male goblin, she and Stuff occasionally get mistaken as a gay couple."

"OK, I did not need to know that!" Penna sounded disturbed until she calmed down and tried to explain in a restrained patience. "Look, Marius, I may be the daughter of the worst villain in the universe, but I was still raised like a Catholic, so I don't really have a good eye on same-sex relationships. Which is why I'm rather angry at Jessie."

"You're angry at Jessie for preferring a female love interest? You're being a hypocrite, Penna." Marius shook his head.

"Repeat that to me again!" Penna shouted angrily, but Marius retained his ground.

"Last time I checked, your father was a hypocrite who disliked mixed species while being a half-blood himself and forced you to kill your first crush just because he didn't believe in love and didn't want you to have it. Now _you_ are being a hypocrite for not approving of your foster kid's romantic affair while you hated your father for ruining your love life." He rubbed his nails and gave her a glare. "Sounds familiar?"

Penna blinked at him, her frozen expression showing that she realized quickly his point. "I can't believe you're right," she said and slapped herself on the forehead. "I sound like Voldemort!"

"Positively speaking, you didn't incinerate Grinchelda on the spot, otherwise Jessie would have turned into you." He put a gentle hand on her back. "I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"She's forgiven!"

They blinked in confusion until the sound of rustling leaves caught their attention and they saw Jessie jumping down from the nearest tree. "Seriously?" Marius said in exasperation. "Who _else_ has been listening?"

"Just me and a few squirrels who pooped on my shoulder." Jessie sighed in disgust at a bunch of brown goop that was stuck on her jacket's left shoulder before going back to the other two. "I thought I'd follow my boss around. Just to make sure that she didn't harm Grinch because of the stupid text."

"She's fine," Penna rolled her eyes. "Just because I don't approve of...certain relationships doesn't mean that I was going to resort to violence."

"I'm sorry, but you do remember how you kept beating Bayen for his unrequited crush on you, right?" Jessie asked skeptically.

"Look, she's sorry, you forgave her, can we just move on in life?" Marius didn't even want to know more about whoever this Bayen was.

"Speaking of moving on, wanna discuss introducing Penna to your folks? Because my boss is good parenting material but bad impressing other parents material," Jessie said.

"Thank you, J.J," Penna said both sweetly for the compliment and sourly for the last insult. Clearly, Jessie was a slight upset about the argument they had earlier.

Penna turned to Marius and showed the prince her worried face. "Jessie's right, Marius. When are your parents coming?"

"The messenger who delivered me my parents' scroll said that they're planning on coming tomorrow morning," Marius said. "This is sort of last minute, so Ben asked for his parents to help set up the welcoming preparations while I asked Sugar Plum since he and I were busy with the problem with the Raft VKs."

"Yeah, these guys are like a rotten layered cake!" Jessie scoffed. "You cut through one scheming layer and you don't see that they have another one going behind the first one. Can you believe that while they had everyone focus on the entire they-tried-to-kidnap-two-students fiasco, they tried to aid one of their prison inmates into stealing my boss' Horcruxes for _their_ boss?" She shook her head and went back to the main topic. "So, welcoming committee?"

"Well, from what I know so far, Belle, Beast, and Sugar Plum have managed to organize at the last minute an early family gathering as to welcome my parents," Marius said. "All the parents of the two schools will attend some sort of garden party in the Auradon campus like they usually do on something called Family Day. Belle mentioned something about _exceptionally_ letting around twelve parents from the Isle of the Lost come over to see their kids until the end of the Pride Games."

"Aw," Penna said. "That sounds sweet."

"You do remember what happened to Mal and her friends when _they_ attended Family Day, right?" Jessie asked skeptically.

"Right." Penna grumbled. "Ben introduces Mal to his folks as his new girlfriend, so far everyone seems to accept until Audrey's grandma, Sleeping Beauty's mother, starts lashing out because Mal's mother cursed Aurora. I'm not going to describe the commotion that followed."

"Look on the positive side," Marius reassured Penna. "I'm sure that the parents from the Isle will be too busy hating their arch-rivals from Auradon and nobody will bother you naturally impressing your parents."

Penna smirked a smug at her boyfriend. "You know, I actually like it when you talk like a bad boy. And aside from the Family Day?"

"Then they were planning on hosting a royal soirée at Ben's castle, almost like the dinner party Ben hosted to welcome me when I first arrived in Auradon. And this time, Penna, can you _please_ not bail?"

Penna blushed at the memory of her not coming to the dinner party because she worried that she would ruin it. _Then again_ , she thought, _missing the dinner party eventually led me to properly meet Bug Fly._

"My family will be staying at my camp and will personally tour the places of Auradon I've described to them in my letters. Then, Ben's parents have managed to get them VIP spots for them during the Tri-Relay Race. That way they'll have a good view of the event. Hopefully everything should go well after the closing ceremony..."

Penna gulped. "Yay..."

"Relax and just be natural," Marius told her gently. "I'm sure my family will like you."

"Aside from your parents and your cousin, who else will I...meet?" Penna asked, sweat drooling its way down her neck.

"Just my aunt Dawn, my uncle Sunny, my Grannyselda, my grandpa Dagda, and my pet Impius," Marius listed. "But please try to put your personality clash on hold and don't ask too many questions to my parents about their individual heartbreaks. And don't try to make yourself too pretty just because you're meeting them. They like people as they are."

"Shouldn't be too hard." Jessie nodded.

"And be careful when you're around my Grannyselda. She's my worst matchmaking nightmare, so try to politely dodge her questions about marriage and future great-grandchildren. Also, don't let her hug you."

"I never had a grandmother, but now I'm starting to think yours will terrify me," Penna admitted.

"And lastly, you might want to tell Naga to control herself when she's around my pet Impius." Marius wasn't joking when he said this last point. "Snakes are natural predators to his species back home, so he might think Naga wants to eat him if she starts chasing him."

"Naga doesn't eat people unless I tell her to, so Impius should be fine," Penna said with a smile.

"Uh, Penna," Marius said, "imps in the Fae Realm are like white bunny eared possums the size of raccoons like those I give to Naga as treats."

Penna lost her smile. "Jessie, remind me to bring a leash in case Naga goes carnivorous."

"I got it covered." She opened her jacket and revealed several colorful leashes of different sizes strapped inside her jacket, along with laugh gas grenades, a clown makeup kit, and a Swiss Army knife. "You never know when you have to deal with a crazy snake."

"Well," Penna chuckled nervously, "now that means I only have two things to worry about so far. Impressing Marius' parents and...hoping that I don't have to face Martin Fiske during the last round of the Tri-Relay Race."


	30. Early Family Day

Chapter 30: Early Family Day

"So he's still in a coma?" Ruby talked to Lonnie on the phone while she in the meantime was busy adjusting the dress she had recently bought for tomorrow's family day. "OK, don't take it personally, Lonnie, but you can definetly give Artemis the price for Not-Exactly-Best-Boyfriend of the year." She pulled her phone away from her ear until she made sure Lonnie stopped screaming through the line. "Seriously, you've got a god-like boyfriend with close to infinite powers whose best demonstrations are him letting his heart ripped off his chest, nearly letting you get turned into a megassence monster, and currently couldn't protect you from being kidnapped because mister is still in a coma!" Lonnie kept screaming at the other end of the line. "Then get yourself a shrink and see you tomorrow!" She hung her phone and threw it right into the pillow of her bed before dropping herself on the purple sheets. "Ugh! _Now_ I know why RJ doesn't want any cousins!"

"Problem?"

Ruby sat up and saw Martin leaning on the doorway. After recently coming out of the shower, his skin was still humid despite having rubbed it dry and currently wearing a red-and-black robe. Judging by the messy state of his hair and the circles under his eyes looking darker than usual, he looked more tired than usual thanks to the combination of the attempts on his life, the effect of Tiger Breath on him, and him privately training to prepare himself for the martial arts round of the Tri-Relay Race, which would be in two or three days from now.

"I'd rather prefer a diversion from my problems." She pulled out the plum colored empire dress with black off shoulder straps encrusted with diamonds that she had purchased and showed it to her boyfriend. "What do you think of my dress?"

Martin blinked. "Seriously? How shallow do you think I am?" He walked over to the bed and let himself drop in a similar fashion that Ruby used, which contrasted his usually British sophistication. Only...he buried his face in the nearest pillow.

"So, you don't like it?" Ruby arched an eyebrow.

"What do you want me to say? That I like this better than Queen Elizabeth's usual ruffled skirt from the 16th century?" He snapped at her before burying his face deeper in the pillow.

Normally, any mature teenager with a rude boyfriend would get up and tell him that he might as well sleep in the couch and get out of her room, but Ruby was far more reasonable than that. She silently put her dress on a hanger in the closet and lied down near Martin. She gently used her fingers to travel through his black silks of hair, neatening them up and calming down Martin in the process. After all, feeling her warm touch with adamantium nails always made him feel better.

"It'll all be over once the Pride Games are over," she tried to reassure him. "The games will be over, along with the Raft problem, you'll graduate and...finally go to Oxford."

He noticed the tone of her voice at the end of the sentence. He pulled himself up, sat upstraight, and looked at Ruby. "Ruby, does it...bother you that I'm going to Oxford?"

She blinked her eyes and stopped stroking his hair. "No." She gave a weak, unconvincing smile. "I mean, it's what you always wanted. Going to Oxford, getting that archaeology degree, and earning your dream career just like your father... By the way, he's going to be here in Auradon to see you for the Tri-Relay Race and your graduation, right? I heard he and some of the other parents from the Isle got a temporary pardon."

"As long as he doesn't try to strangle Ronilda's parents on Family Day, he should be good, but that's irrelevant..." He cupped Ruby's cheeks with the palms of his simian hands, making her feel the warmth of his hairy touch, and asked in a more serious tone. "Rebecca," he used her actual first name this time, "I'm not going to ask again. Does it bother you that I'm going to Oxford?"

Ruby said nothing, merely biting her lips until she finally gave in and started sobbing. Make a note that Martin still held his hands onto her cheeks. "Fine! I am!" She whimpered. "Let's face it, with all the unstable relationships I've had, a mother that I disliked but couldn't save, a father that I never knew yet I still have a hard time adjusting to the entire being a rich businessman's daughter, and ex-boyfriend who betrayed me and yet seems to be after me, you're the only one I've had a stable relationship with! And even after everything, I can't even spend a long time with you without having some sort of calamity coming to ruin everything because the last time it happened, I distanced myself from you out of fear for two months, we almost died in a fire pit, I died, and I got resuscitated. And now you're distancing yourself from me because of all the late drama and I didn't want to talk to you against your biggest dream otherwise you'd think that I'd turn into a spoiled brat and honestly, I just don't know if I can even handle a year without you while you're across the ocean!"

"Ruby..." He used his thumb to wipe away the tears sliding down her face. "I wasn't aware that my life's goal was giving you pain... You shouldn't have been afraid to tell me."

"That's my problem, Martin! You've been going through troubles lately like Tiger Breath and a recent kidnapping attempt and during each of them I was afraid of watching you dying! We've only been dating for like six months and..." Ruby stopped talking when Martin interrupted her via a small kiss, courtesy of him pulling her head towards his.

"You _do_ remember what I told you back on the Isle?" He asked her once he broke off the kiss. "During Forkjølelse Vinter and Jane Hook's fake marriage?"

Of course she couldn't forget. She still remembered her hanging around the tidal pool while the others partied near the JOLLY ROGER, Martin had joined her, and the two had a long conversation, the last long one they had together before she went on the quest in the Infinite Forest of Evil. She remembered her touching his cheek softly and him holding her hand while his voice trembled.

 _After everything I've endured...My parents, imprisonment, Mystical Monkey Power, Dragon Hall, that crazy Sugar Cuddle of Freakness, and Tai Shing Pek Kwar..._ His voice echoed in her head.

"You're the only thing that I ever really loved," she repeated out loud. Martin nodded, feeling glad that she remembered. He lowered his hands from her cheeks to her hands, which they held happily together. She then smiled. "I even remember when you gave me that chipped piece from the Lotus Blade."

"Yeah." Martin put a hand in his pocket and pulled out the metal chip in question. "I still keep it in my pocket."

"I always remember the part of when you made a ring out of it and gave it to me as a little affection token..." She then giggled. "At first, I almost thought you were going to propose, but then you reassured me that you wouldn't because you thought it'd be 'too soon'."  
"Uh, Ruby..." He clenched the chip in his fist and morphed it into a ring, very much like the ring he had turned the chip into the first time he gave it to Ruby. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise when they saw the ring again. They got wider from shock when Martin got up from the bed while still holding on to Ruby's hand and knelt before Ruby, holding the ring out for her. "I'm not going to lie, I don't expect you to give me an answer on the spot, but... if you do have it in your heart before I have to go to England, will you, Rebecca Martha Kyle Wayne, do me the honor of becoming my Lady Fiske?"

 _Meanwhile, in Penna De Mort's house_

"Too scaly!" Penna threw a snake-scaled dress out of her closet while Mina checked in it as well. With all the turn of events going on, Penna was dealing with the same situation that Mal had faced last year on Family Day.

The possibility of meeting your boyfriend's parents during the day where all the good guys' parents get-together for some reason that not even Penna could understand. Honestly, if Voldemort were still around and personally came to Family Day, everybody would have made a run for it, probably moving Family Day all the way to Easter Island.

Sure, Mal's suggestion of 'just stay calm and be yourself' sounded natural when Penna asked her for advice earlier today, but how could she stay calm and be herself in front of her boyfriend's parents, the presumed stern Bog King and Fairy Queen, while she herself was a creation of destruction and mayhem?

"Too sexy." Mina whistled when she caught sight of a teal leather sleeveless waistcoat with black epaulettes made of fake snake fangs. "I never saw you as a biker chick. Hey, can I have this if you don't want to wear it?"

"Sure, take it. I don't even know why I have it in my closet." Penna growled in frustration. "Unbelievable! I got nothing to wear for tomorrow!" She pinched her nose in frustration. "I'm the only one here who _never_ does anything for Father's Day, and I don't even know what to wear for Family Day!"

"Because this is your first one or you're just to worried about Bug Fly's parents hating you on the spot?" Mina tried the waistcoat on and found that it fit her perfectly.

"Both, but mainly the second," Penna admitted.

"Then why don't, you know, try to magic yourself a dress suitable for family Day?"

Penna bit her mouth in frustration. "The days I forget I have magic." She walked over to her mirror and sighed as she twirled her wrists and pointed at herself. " _Mambas are black and Night Violets are violet, Give me something to wear that's not so violent._ " Teal colored smoke snakes slithered out of her fingertips and coiled all over her limbs and torso, causing her skin to glow until it stopped. Soon enough, the reptilian mist of magic revealed their caster wearing a white blouse with blue slithering patterns and short blue petal shaped sleeves, a matching blue silk ribbon tied around her waist like a belt with the ends coiling behind her back, a glittery purple tube skirt with dark blue outlines and one snake printed on it, and high heeled gladiator sandals that were particularly designed. The straps on her thighs looked like snakes coiling their way towards her ankles and the high heeled shoes themselves looked like snakes opening their mouths to reveal their fangs and tongues. Not to mention that the left shoe was blue colored and the right one was purple colored.

"Hang on! I think I spotted some stuff in your accessories that might work!" Mina searched through Penna's closet and jewelry box until she came out with a light blue tie, grey diamond dangling earrings, and purple snake bracelet. Surprisingly enough, none of them changed once Penna put them on. "There. And if you perhaps tied your hair up in a bun while leaving some strands dangling, you'll actually look like a mix of sweet and tough schoolgirl."

"And not like some crazy sociopath who wanted to annihilate everyone?" Penna smiled in relief, making Mina chuckle as she took off her jacket and folded it in order to bring it out with her.

"You sound like my dad whenever people ask him what the hell it was like meeting his in laws," she said as she sat down on the bed. "Only he's more, you know...EXCENTRIC!" Mina made exploding hand gestures and noises. Penna smiled a bit and snapped her fingers, making her clothes leave her fold and fold nicely near her desk for tomorrow while her black mamba colored pajamas flew out of her closet and covered her.

"Mina, did your...I mean, Megamind, ever tell you about how he met your...Roxanne Ritchi's parents?" It felt normally weird for her to pronounce terms like 'father' and 'mother' due to her lack of parental support, especially on the eve of Family Day, so she stuck with formality. "I mean, sure, he's a reformed villain, but..."

"What is weird for my grandparents when their daughter brought over her boyfriend, the blue alien from outer space who tried to take over Metro City, over for Thanksgiving dinner, and then about six months later, he 'asks' Grandpa for his blessing to propose to Roxanne?" Mina shrugged. "Honestly, on a scale from one to ten, the fact that an ex-villain married their daughter only scored a one."

"Seriously? Just one?" That almost gave Penna some relief.

"Yeah, they were just unsettled because he was a blue alien. You can imagine the family picture above their chimney. It took them longer than Mom did to get used to him, but they adapted a whole lot quicker when I came along."

"Because you're part-human?" Penna guessed as she braided her hair, a habit she started doing before going to sleep once she came to Auradon.

"Pretty much," Mina said casually. "I mean, sure, I had a fairly standard childhood, cared by my family, Minion and Minion Jr, adored by a good majority of my hometown...But at the same time, I get pressured for expectations. People who occasionally go like 'Oh, look, it's Mina Mind, Roxanne Ritchi's daughter! I bet she'll be a famous reporter like her mom!' Sometimes it was 'Look! Megamind's daughter, Mina Mind! Ya think she'll become a supervillain and end up reforming by saving us all like her dad did?'" Mina sighed and rested her chin on her fist. "Add in the fact that, excluding my dad, I'm the only one left in my alien species. If I bring in more descendants, I'll just end up erasing my alien heritage. That's what stinks when you mix species together. One side takes over..."

"And the other disappears." Penna completed the sentence bellow a whisper as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Well, see ya tomorrow. And thanks again for the jacket." Mina gave her a small pat on the shoulder and left, taking the jacket with her. Penna waited silently until she made sure that Mina had shut the door behind her and left Malevia Village before returning back to her mirror.

Penna: _I want to believe so hard_

 _That my life is changing for the better._

 _But I just can't reconnect with the shards_

 _That help me forget from when it was darker._

She rubbed the cold surface of her mirror, changing scenes between her times in Auradon and the Isle with her friends and her days torturing villains.

Penna: _I see the way they look so happy_

 _And I wish I could finally fit in with them._

 _But within me I still can't find serenity_

 _Because anything bad comes from the tip of my thumb._

 _Uh, oh, oh, oh._

 _So tell me, I beg thee,_

 _What's wrong or right for me?_

 _I really want to know_

 _Before I choose on my own._

 _What does my heart want?_

 _What does my destiny want?_

 _So tell me, I beg thee,_

 _What's wrong or right for me?_

 _Uh, oh, oh, oh._

She then rubbed the mirror again, revealing her tender times with Marius from when she met the prince to when he shared with her the first kiss of many before the mirror then showed her killing all of her Horcrux victims, particularly Mandire.

Penna: _When I met him, he showed me what it really means_

 _To fall in love and share this feeling._

 _When I heard he'd like to make me his queen,_

 _I felt like I could finally have a happy ending._

 _But inside, I'm not sure he deserves me._

 _I doubt his kingdom would even want a witch to rule._

 _I've caused so many pains, and it just burns me._

 _I can't let them live this. It'd be too cruel._

 _Uh, oh, oh, oh._

 _So tell me, I beg thee,_

 _What's wrong or right for me?_

 _I really want to know_

 _Before I choose on my own._

 _What does my heart want?_

 _What does my destiny want?_

 _So tell me, I beg thee,_

 _What's wrong or right for me?_

 _Uh, oh, oh, oh._

"What's wrong...or right...for me?" Penna whispered quietly to her mute reflection before burying herself under the covers of her bed. A smile came to her when Naga slithered out of nowhere and coiled up right next to Penna like a puppy sleeps with its owner. "I know you're the right pet for me, Naga." Penna caressed the snake and finally fell asleep. "Maybe things will be right for me tomorrow."

 _The next morning_

The courtyard of Auradon Prep had been prepared for Family Day faster than it usually takes. Tables with cream pink tablecloths and white garden stools were outside on the green grass, a buffet with everything from cucumber sandwiches all the way to the chocolate fountain accompanied by a side dish of strawberries was in place, and the croquet was out in case some wanted to play. A small playing field was set for anyone who brought their pets over.

Families came over around 8am. It was quite a sight, seeing the parents from both schools reuniting with their children. For the students from Auradon Prep, they got served with seeing their competitors hugging their parents. Some of the St Luther reformees looked excited as they reunited with their parents and couldn't wait to introduce them to their new friends or love interests, giving some VKs the chance to get over their fear of meeting their parents' foes.

"Yeah, I totally did not expect your dad to like me," Izzy confessed to Karl after he introduced her to his father, who completely greeted her like she was already part of the family.

"It's Kronk." Karl rolled his eyes once he made sure his father was busy tasting the buffet's spinach puffs. "You _had_ to see this coming."

Some students felt awkward at being reunited with their families. Ronilda, despite having slightly calmed down her bitterness towards her parents, couldn't help but dodge her overly supportive Possible-Stoppable family and feigned excusing herself to go to the bathroom...for fifteen minutes.

"I can't help but notice the odd coldness from the Troll Teens," Dusk ended up admitting while having a brief chat with Ben after she introduced to her mother, Sunset Shimmer. She gestured towards Gladiola, Disco Jam, and Glows Ruby, who apparently seemed more interested in leaning under a pine tree's shadow than join their Troll peers into singing a welcoming song for their parents.

"Rather unusual for a Troll, especially Gladiola of all people," Sunset Shimmer agreed with her daughter. "I've never seen the Princess of the Trolls not wanting to sing."

"Maybe she's just feeling pressured," Ben suggested. "I mean, between her having to make public appearances as the new Pride Queen and becoming the next Troll Queen..."

"That would be normal on _human_ standards." Sunset rubbed her chin. "Back in Equestria, I would have suggested changelings being a possibility, but this isn't Equestria."

"I can assure you that there are no changelings, we double checked," Ben said in an unconvincing tone. Honestly, he didn't even know how to convince himself. He already had to get some guards to keep an eye on the Raft VKs while they sat at a table, looking like a bunch of misbehaving kids being punished.

Thanks to the newest surprise, some of the VKs from Auradon got the chance to see their parents. Well, only twelve could come. So those without the visiting parents had to watch glumly while some hugged their visiting parents like the last time they did it was in forever.

"You've lost some weight," the Candy Witch said as she and Ingwer hugged. "Good to see that you're losing your father's ogre appetite."

"It's not easy with all the good food they have here," Ingwer said. "You _really_ have to check out their chocolate fountain."

Due to some business on the Isle, neither Macbeth or his wife could visit their daughter Macy, so one of her brothers, Alasdair, came over. Noir Du Feu eagerly welcomed her mother Blackfire while the two of them coldly avoided Sparrowfire Grayson and his family. Forkjølelse reunited with his father (for reasons like the Macbeths, the White Witch couldn't come), Nora Belartiste and the rest of her foster siblings affectionately tackled Hawk Moth, Sirenius cautiously introduced Dusk to his mother, who tried very hard to not get sent back on the Isle just because she didn't like seeing Sunset Shimmer or the fact that her old foe's daughter was dating her son, Xaos Sethson silently led his mortal mother to the buffet, and Gilliard warned his father to not mutate anyone while they played croquet.

"Why isn't my mother here?" Moonlight Glimmer dared to ask Coach Kholtas while she roughly, but warmly reconnected with her niece Haya. "Fairy Godmother said she would come."

"I'm afraid I don't know," Coach Kholtas shrugged.

"You _do_ know that Starlight Glimmer _always_ try to spread her propaganda of evil equality all over town," Haya said while arching an eyebrow. "She even personally stamps her posters on every door in the Hun turf."

"Look, I _really_ don't know," Coach Kholtas confessed once she made sure that nobody was hearing them. "This morning, we found none of her usual propaganda on the doors. Naturally, Shan Yu found it suspiciously that he didn't receive his usual junk mail..."

"I can't believe your dad actually misses having junk mail from my mother!" Moonlight blinked at Haya in shock. "Haya, is Shan Yu flashing on Starlight Glimmer?"

"You do realize how stupid that sounds, right?" Haya also wanted to mention how Auradon had completely mellowed Moonlight, but she didn't dare to.

Once the girls were over with their bickering, Kholtas continued with her story. "Shan Yu went personally to that communist neighborhood where Starlight Glimmer lives and they found the area in chaos. They claimed that Glimmer wasn't around to order them on their morning routines as she usually does, and after checking her house, they found that she has vanished. That's why some of the parents working in the Villainous Council who were supposed to come here today stayed back in the Isle, to do some investigating." She put an apologizing hand on Moonlight's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but your mother isn't coming today."

Moonlight bit her lip tearfully. "But...what the heck did the Council tell Auradon and Co. about why they couldn't come?"

"Flu, work business," Kholtas listed, "oh, and the White Witch lied saying that she had a frozen beet garden to attend. Knowing her ironic disdain for frozen foods..."

"Maybe she tried to leave the Isle early?" Moonlight suggested desperately.

"The taxis for the Isle family members only came to the Isle at 7am and left as soon as they were full. Unless your mother can swim across the ocean..."

"Ugh, you got a point. Besides, she never leaves the neighborhood without giving her communist orders around." Moonlight turned to Haya. "Should I tell Ben?"

"No! After the mild issues between VKs and reformees, the Pride Games, the diplomacy with the Fae Realm, the rogue St Luther principal, and the VKs from the Raft, we don't need to increase every problem by adding a new one. And with your mom being crazy enough to go around saying that Penna's old plan to extract our marks of villainy's essences wasn't so different from her plan to brainwash and remove the cutie marks of an entire village... Penna's gonna have a harder time than she already does."

"Why? Because she's going to suffer watching everyone spending time with their parents?" Kholtas asked.

"Worse." Haya shook her head. "Meeting possibly future in laws."

 _Meanwhile, at the croquet field_

"Wow." Penna leaned on her mallet when she saw Ruby Kyle joining in on the croquet field. "Not _feline_ good today, are we?"

"Perplexed." Ruby grabbed a mallet and struck a nearby ball as if she were playing golf rather than playing croquet. Strangely enough, the ball landed on the nearest bowl of fruit punch.

"Did you and Monkey Boy have an argument?" Penna asked out of genuine concern. She looked towards her left and noticed that Martin Fiske was having a conversation with Monkey Fist, who came with the other visiting parents from the Isle, and Ruby's father while Alfred and Bates seemed to be busy exchanging recipes. Judging by their amiable expressions and distant laughter, the men seemed to be having a splendid time. "Your actual father and somewhat father figure getting along so well..." Penna sighed. "You're so lucky."

"I guess." Ruby shrugged before finally giving in. "Penna, Martin proposed to me last night."

This made Penna widen her eyes in shock. "Did you say yes?" She asked in excitement.

"No...I mean, not yet! I just... I just told him that I needed some time to think this through..."

Penna shook her head before hitting a ball with her own mallet. "It's been evident to everyone ever since you two met on the Isle that you were meant for each other. Even before you were revealed to be Bruce Wayne's daughter and official heiress, Monkey Fist and the other adult villains have been rooting for the street rat Ruby Kyle to become Lady Ruby Fiske!"

"I guess..." Ruby shrugged. "But I also have a bad history of boyfriends. Corbeau basically _betrayed_ me and now he expects me to just waltz into his arms! I mean, I just ran into his parents a few minutes ago and they agreed that his behavior is not...how do I put it?"

"Appropriate if you seek a proper relationship?" Penna chuckled. "Look on the bright side, you got a current boyfriend who's more devoted and loyal than the first and is guaranteed to give you a prosperous life. You used to live in the streets, you're currently living in a mansion, but then you could live in an actual castle and attend regal events as a lady of the court..."

"Like with you and Marius?" Ruby asked with a smirk.

Penna froze. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Penna, the rumors have been spreading. Ever since the news came that you'd be meeting Marius' folks, gossip has been going around that an arranged marriage between you and your boyfriend might take place. Besides, didn't Marius admit that he'd like you to be his Queen?"

"Well, I _overheard_ him saying it to Dusk. He didn't _directly_ propose to me...I...I just don't know if I can picture anyone wanting to marry. It's already crazy that of all the people I ended up falling in love with and getting his mutual love, it would be with a fairy-goblin prince."

"The same way it would be crazy enough that, despite the entire villain and reformee dispute, I, the daughter of an antihero, would fall in love with the son of a villain and everyone's rooting for a possible wedding?" Ruby smirked sarcastically at Penna, making the latter grimace.

"At least I know which side you inherited the sarcasm from," Penna rolled her eyes.

Ruby tilted her head and noticed her father waving at her as a sign to come join him. "Well, the father beckons. Thanks for the pep talk, Penna."

"I was giving you a pep talk?" Penna asked in confusion while she watched Ruby run towards her father. She sighed at the sight of the antihero offspring she had tried to ruin the life of years ago: unlike Penna, she had at least _one_ biological relative bothering to show up on Family Day. _Well, it's not like I'd even want to have Voldemort over on Family Day,_ she thought to herself as she left to get herself a beverage. _I don't even know if my biological mother would have if she survived giving birth to me._

She went to the buffet and tried to see if she could get herself something to drink. Unfortunately, most of the beverages were either fruit flavored or light caffeinated drinks, the kind of stuff she disdained to drink. Much to her pleasure, a fairy servant from the Fae Realm was serving crystal cups full of Pollen Ale. Remembering the last time she drank too much of it, she decided to settle with just one cup. "Now _that's_ a beverage."

"I couldn't agree more."

Penna was startled by the sudden appearance of a fairy on her right side. Normally, fairies never shocked her as much as they annoyed her back when she was evil (even Maleficent, a dark fairy, annoyed her), but this one was particularly tall, like at least a foot taller than Marius, she could have played basketball if it weren't for those magnificent purple emperor wings hanging from her back, folded like a cape, very much how Penna kept hers folded down. The fairy had dark brown hair cut into a pixie hairstyle that seemed to combine both wildness and elegance. Her eyeshadow and lipstick was dark purple, which matched the purple sleeveless gown she was wearing. With each layer above one another, she almost looked like a Night Violet turned upside down, and coincidentally enough, she had a jeweled hairclip matching the flower in question. And strangely enough, she had a sword strapped to her waist belt.

But the most shocking part of the fairy was the color of her eyes. For some reason, that hazel color looked so...familiar.

"I do apologize for startling you," the fairy said. "At least I didn't scream you to death."

"Screams don't really kill me," Penna shrugged. "Otherwise, I'd be dead from all the stupid horror movies that I've seen on Friday movie nights. Don't get me started on _Night of the Living Felis_."

"I can imagine," the fairy said. She looked around the people socializing around them. "So, this is what Auradon Prep is like? I must say it's...brighter than I expected. I do like their flowers, though."

"You're from the Fae Realm? Judging from your attire, you must be from the royal court," Penna remarked.

"In a way, but I'd rather not get into much details." The fairy winked. "People might jump into conclusions."

"Welcome to my world," Penna sighed. "Because of my...past issues, everyone including myself expects me to make a mess out of everything. Just seeing my classmates with their parents makes me want to scream."

"Parental issues?" The fairy guessed while drinking her glass of Pollen Ale.

"Trust me, you are _lucky_ you never met my paternal. As my mother, well...I never knew her. She died right after I was born."

"I'm sorry," the fairy said genuinely. "I understand what it's like to lose a mother. Mine died from illness while my sister and I will still children, and as for my father, he's got moments when he's downright pathetic. And don't get me started with my mother-in-law."

"What about your father-in-law?"

"Never knew him. Just like my mother, he died when my husband was young. At least we all know where he got his looks and arrogance in the family."

"Is he a fairy? Because I've met some fairies with nasty attitudes." Penna gave her empty cup back to the servant after politely declining a refill. "Don't get me started with Maleficent..."

"The infamous rejected evil 'fairy godmother'," the fairy said while rolling her eyes. "Can you believe that a couple of royal _humans_ made the stupid mistake of not inviting a powerful fairy like her? True, her popularity is low among the magically-gifted fairies in the Fae Realm, but you've got to partially blame the humans for their lack of sense."

"Yeah," Penna chuckled nervously. "So true." Adding in pepper into the vinegar, _Penna_ had actually been the one responsible for Maleficent cursing Sleeping Beauty: aside from giving Maleficent the sleeping poppies needed to curse the spinning wheel, Penna purposely stole Maleficent's invitation (yes, King Stefan and Queen Leah originally invited Maleficent!), burned it, and put a memory wiping spell over the castle, which caused them to give Maleficent this sole excuse when she barged in during Aurora's christening.

 _You weren't wanted_. Great job, Merryweather. Great job for accidently giving the original chessmaster behind Sleeping Beauty's curse what she exactly wanted: getting the so called Mistress of Evil to curse the princess, get killed and revived after that failed, and sent to the Isle to give birth to Mal. All this because Penna De Mort wanted the mark of villainy from the daughter of Maleficent.

 _'Cause that worked out SO WELL_ , Penna's voice taunted her.

"But no, my husband isn't a fairy." Penna got sent back to reality when she heard the fairy speaking. "In fact, he's just been invited by King Benjamin's father to play croquet. Why not join us?"

Penna was tempted to say no, for she was still waiting for Marius to meet up with her and introduce her to his folks, but he still hadn't showed up yet, and quite frankly, she could use a little distraction.

"Sounds like a good idea." They walked back to the croquet field, where they saw something that surprised Penna. Everyone on the croquet field was watching a croquet playoff between Ben, his father Beast, Marius, and a tall, thin goblin with torn dragonfly wings, a dry bark exoskeleton that covered his body like an armor, and a golden stone crowned scepter that he used as a mallet to play croquet easily. Penna gasped when she made the instant comparison once she saw Marius and the tall goblin standing next to each other. With the nearly matching exoskeleton, dark brown skin, dragonfly wings, and head horns shaped like a crown, the facts made it clear.

Marius was playing with his father, the Bog King.

 _I could silently walk away or pretend I'm fainting_ , Penna tried to think of excuses in her head. _But then I'd be embarrassing myself in front of_...

"Excuse me for a moment." Marius apologized to Ben and Beast and walked over to Penna and the fairy. He hugged the latter. "Mom."

"M... _Mom_?" Penna looked startled as Marius and the fairy broke off their hug. "You mean...I've...been talking to the Fairy Queen Marianne?"

"Is that a problem?" The Bog King walked over and held Marianne by the hand, asking the question to Penna in a suspicious tone, it made her uncomfortable. Hearing the king almost scolding her almost reminded her by one percent of her own father berating her when she was a child.

"Calm down, Lysander," Marianne said patiently. "I never mentioned me being a royal. At least she didn't jump at me with questions about me being queen like almost all the human female teenagers did...well, those who learned."

"Did they ask about the curtains?" Penna couldn't help asking. "Because curtain apparel is like a plague for those obsessed with curtains and royal fashion. I mean...personally, I never understood the point."

" _Thank you_!" Marianne exclaimed in relief. The Bog King looked like his scowl was softening.

"Mom, Dad." Marius held Penna by the arm, which somewhat calmed her down, especially with most eyes staring at them and making this even more awkward for her. "This is Penna, from Auradon Prep. My girlfriend."

"This seems very much like déjà vu," Beast whispered to Ben, referring to when Ben first introduced Mal, as they watched Penna give a small curtsy before the Fae Realm monarchs, who seemed rather surprised that the girl revealed before them was the maiden their son fancied.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Penna said as politely as she could, "despite the fact that this is very awkward. I'm not used to meeting parents of my crush." The words came out her rather bluntly.

"I can relate," the Bog King said bluntly.

"Lysander! Not again!" Marianne hissed.

"I was only saying the truth!"

"Do they always..." Penna began asking Marius while the latter's parents bickered between each other.

"Argue like an old married couple?" Marius sighed. "Yes, yes they do." He patted her on the shoulder. "I hope you can survive tonight's dinner. Ben's mother has set up separate tables for the royal families and she managed to make sure that you, Minuit, Jessie, Feige, and Dårlig get reserved seats for the table reserved just for my family."

Penna gulped. "I don't see how it can get any worse."


	31. Worst Dinner For Reunions

Chapter 31: Worst Dinner For Reunions

Commonly speaking, it's probably always an awkward thing for any teenager to experience having dinner with his or her crush's parents, especially when the dinner in question is at a fancy dinner party in somebody else's house.

For Penna, she felt like this commonality was tripled just for the sake of making her feel more awkward. Throughout the day, even during the small afternoon tea party hosted by Belle, she didn't dare to speak at all or act. One misstep, one wrong word, and she good say sayonara to pleasing Marius' parents and hello to another ruined love life. _At least it might be less painful than me killing Mandire_ , she thought to herself as they all sat down at the table reserved for them during the royal dinner party at Ben's castle.

The table ended up being more occupied than she expected. Marius had quite the family brought over. Aside from him, his parents, his cousin Daylight, and Kit and Junk (who did join the party), he had his paternal grandmother Griselda, his maternal grandfather Dagda, Daylight's mother Dawn and father Sunny, the twins' parents Stuff and Thang, and Marius' adorable white imp pet Impius, who sat at the far end of the table to avoid Naga giving him big eyes. Even Sugar Plum came along. Compared to Penna just bringing over Minuit and Jessie her foster daughters and Feige and Dårlig her old servants, she just had lackeys to act as family while Marius' biological one was rather massive.

Since the table was rectangular, almost all of them sat on the sides. The Bog King occupied one end and his wife sat at his right side while the other was occupied with Marius with Penna at _his_ right side, which left her to have Jessie at her left side... in case she needed moral support.

"So, I'm confused," Uncle Sunny was making conversation with Feige and Dårlig while the servants brought over Pollen Ale, pleasing all those from the Fae Realm. "You two are the only ones serving Penna with parents still alive?"

"To be fair, we eloped before the entire getting hired by Penna thing," Feige said.

"We _did_ try living in our own shack." Dårlig nodded. "But with our lack of currency, we couldn't stay. Good thing that Penna was looking for someone to take charge of the kitchen."

"Yes, the last maintenance was...inconvenient," Penna tried to fit the words as best as she could.

"I can imagine," Marianne said as she sipped through her Pollen Ale. "Ever since the Dark Forest and Fairy Kingdom joined, combined species maintenance was challenging. Each species had different aspects on how to get things done."

"A complete load!" Her sister Dawn agreed. "The fairy tailors insisted on using tree leaves or delicate flower petals for making tunics, but then the elves complained that they didn't have enough silk to make labor overalls, and then the goblins kept saying they should get dead leaves for dresses!"

"Yeah, only you would worry about a fashion crisis, Mom," Daylight said sarcastically, causing Dawn to frown at her. Across the table, Marianne rolled her eyes at her son, as if to say: ' _Can you believe those two?'_

The servants brought in the appetizers. While all the other royal guests had dishes they preferred, the Fae Realm table was being served with swamp water noodle soup, a dish that clearly satisfied the goblin attendants. Even the Bog King himself sniffed the soup's odor with pleasure. "Smells like home," he said in approval.

"Did you cook these too, Dårlig?" Marius asked the son of the Bergen Chef. "I remember you made some during my welcome to Auradon dinner party."

"Well actually this time, I couldn't make the dishes since, you know, I'm one of the guests," Dårlig admitted. He tried a sip and pondered. "Uh, I thought I told the chef to lower the amount of salt."

"I must admit, aside from the unusual amount of salt, it tastes very much like home." Marianne said with a smile as she tried the soup. She tilted her head towards Penna. "You're quite lucky to have an open-minded chef among your troupe. I'm sure the dishes were exquisite during the welcoming dinner when Marius first came."

"Well actually, I wasn't at the welcoming dinner." Penna admitted.

"Why ever not?"

Why ever not? Good question. What was a good way to tell the Fairy Queen 'I was afraid of coming and make a mess out of everything after I just got a mob of angry reformees at my house'? She quickly glanced at Feige, begging her for some help by tapping her fingers nervously on the table in Morse code. _Help me._

 _Claim you had an afternoon meditation session with me_ , Feige tapped back. _That's not a lie._

"I was having a meditation session with Feige," Penna said as calmly as she could. "Stress issues." She looked at the Fae Realm troupe. None of them, including Marius, looked convinced.

"You purposely ditched because you thought you were going to ruin it," Minuit said bluntly.

"Minuit!" Feige, Dårlig, and Jessie snapped at her.

"What?" She raised her hands in defense. "I was there to pick her up when she told Ben, and I quote, 'Even though I'm from noble blood, my presence would not make things better for your business with the...'"

"Minuit, we get it!" Dårlig snapped. "So unless you want to start going on about how she got mobbed earlier that day..." The moment he heard the Fae Realm troupe gasp and saw the rest of Penna's group glaring at him, he realized his mistake. "Oops."

"You were _mobbed_?" The Bog King arched an eyebrow at Penna, making her gulp.

"Well...nobody died." She gave a small nervous grin, which didn't keep the king from exchanging glances with his son, whose glance merely said that he had no idea of that part.

"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions," Sugar Plum Fairy intervened while the servants got rid of the empty plates and brought over the official dinner course. "After all, running into superstitious people happens _all the time_. I mean, remember Roland."

"There's a difference between superficial and superstitious, Sugar Plum," Marianne told the fairy coldly for reminding her about her ex-fiancé. She noticed Penna looking tempted to ask a question. "Fine, ask away."

"How bad was Roland?" Penna asked.

"VERY," they all said.

"So shallow," Dagda sighed.

"Gold digger," Marianne muttered.

"Stupid," the Bog King said.

"Horribly fashion victimized with his golden locks," Griselda said to Penna. "Aside from those in my family, blondes are the worst. What do you think?"

"I think neutrality," Penna said flatly.

"Favorite," Jessie said in a quiet singsong tune. Minuit just glared at her as she ate her flower salad.

"Fortunately, Roland was locked up, bound and gagged in an isolated cell with no outside contact," the Bog King said. "But since he got sprayed with the last remains of Sugar Plum's love potion, he's turned into a loony."

"That's the last potion I ever made," Sugar Plum said in relief.

"Remind me again why you made pointless potions?" Penna asked.

"They weren't pointless!" The Sugar Plum Fairy pounded her fist on the table like a court hammer. "It was to teach people that you can't toy with love!"

"The same way you failed to be her fairy godmother?" The Bog King asked the fairy sternly, causing the latter to cringe in her chair. "Don't think I'm not aware of your previous failure. My wife's ancestors would have turned you into a bug!"

Sugar Plum squirmed in her seat.

Penna couldn't keep herself and changed the conversation. She addressed the Queen. "I do apologize if this sounds superficial, but I couldn't help but notice that your dress looks very much like a Night Violet."

"Why thank you." Marianne nodded her head gratefully. "It took almost a hundred Night Violet petals to make this. We have a large mass of them ever since the kingdoms united."

"Ah, Night Violets," Griselda sighed. "I cried when, instead of going on their honeymoon, my son and daughter-in-law planted a grand garden in their new palace filled with nothing but Night Violets." She turned to her grandchildren. "You two used to play there when you were kids, making boutonnières even though Marius wasn't supposed to."

"You did make a very nice corsage out of Night Violets for me when you took me to the Easter Festival," Penna agreed, causing Marius to blush a bit.

"Aw, he made you a Night Violet corsage! How sweet!" His aunt said.

"Isn't it?" Griselda agreed. "I mean, normally speaking, before the Dark Forest and the Fairy Kingdom joined, when a goblin gives his ideal lady jewelry made out of Night Violets, it's pretty much a spoiler alert of him wanting to propose!"

Penna nearly choked her drink. Was Marius' grandmother suggesting that the corsage he gave her back at the Easter Festival was...a hint that he genuinely wanted to marry her? Great Salazar Slytherin, what on Earth was she going to do?

"Great, they completely ruined the roasted toad! Medium cooked!" Dårlig got up from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go complain to the kitchen!" He marched his way out of the room and into the revolving doors leading to the royal kitchen.

"If I may have your attention, please!" Ben tapped his spoon onto his glass, getting everyone's attention towards him. All the regal and aristocratic families paused in their dining to listen to the king of Auradon.

"I know we've been through rough times lately, but tonight, I would like to give thanks for the relation Auradon Prep and St Luther Rose Academy have established during these Pride Games. We used to never interact and most have believed that because of the tension between villains and antiheroes, no friendships could be formed. But destiny proved us wrong," Ben said. "Many have forced differences aside to form friendships and even romances. In two days, the Tri-Relay Race will be the closing event of the Pride Games, and starting then, we will have proven that people _do_ deserve a second chance."

Many applauded. "Also, another mark to celebrate is the new alliance between the Fae Realm." Ben waved his hand at Marius. "Prince Marius has brought so much during his stay in Auradon, including bringing in the faith that some have lacked for a while. That is why I dedicate this toast to..."

CRASH!

The revolving doors leading to the kitchen burst open, cutting Ben from his speech. The guests gasped in shock when they saw Princess Gladiola of all the people tackling Dårlig to the ground, her hands gripping so tightly on his neck that the Bergen couldn't breathe.

"Let go of my boyfriend!" Feige slashed her Troll hair at Gladiola, who let go of Dårlig and jumped off the ground high enough to crack the floor once she landed on her feet.

"Gladiola, what is the meaning of this?" King Branch demanded, but his 'daughter' said nothing aside from giving a cold glance to the crowd while the chef ran out of the kitchen frantically towards Ben.

"Your Highness, something isn't right with the Troll Princess! She broke into the kitchen and had two of her Troll friends tackle down my cooks while she poured poison in a drink meant for Prince Marius!"

Everyone gasped. "WHAT?" The Bog King demanded.

"Wait. Was the poison green-colored and emitted a foul scent of garlic once it came in contact with the beverage?" Penna asked the chef.

"Yes. My sous fainted just from being five feet away from it!" The chef nodded. "If Dårlig hadn't shown up and tackled the Troll Princess..."

"Save your saliva, that's not the Troll Princess." Penna turned to face 'Gladiola' and walked to confront her. "Seriously? Using venom of the Midgard Serpent to poison my boyfriend? I know you're a big fan of killing people for sport, but you could at least do it _cleanly_."

"Because you find poisoning to be unclean?" Sunny said in disbelief.

"Wait, Penna, you know who..." Marius pointed a confused finger at 'Gladiola'. "Who is this again? Please tell me it's not Mandire's ghost trying to kill me out of jealousy!"

Penna scowled at Marius in frustration. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't snoop in my memories."

'Gladiola' held her hands out, creating a green ring of light that scanned her from head to toe, magically dissolving the Troll royalty facade to reveal a seventeen-year-old girl with peach skin dressed in a venom green tight suit with matching green arm sleeves and knee high chunky heeled boots and black tights, everything crowned with light green or dark green circles, as if to hypnotize those looking at her. Her waist-long frizzy blonde hair with a green streak and a red streak was pulled up into a ponytail and crowned by a green spiked tiara. Coincidentally, the dangling emerald earrings and necklaces matched her dazzling green eyes, matching lipstick, and the green hypnotizing orbs she had scarred onto her left cheek, suggesting the scar to be her mark of villainy.

"Actually," she spoke with a thick, but smug Scandinavian accent, "I'm Amira. From Asgard. Home of annual cold weather, Thor Odinson," she listed this stuff as if she were having a normal conversation, "and lethal sorceresses."

"You look familiar," Ben's father said suspiciously.

"Not to me." Martin grimaced. "Looks like we're all stuck with one of the ZAM freaks."

"So, she's in cahoots with Zeniko Zemo and Mia Zola," Mal guessed. "I heard about her from my mom. Your mom is Amora the Enchantress. My mom _really_ didn't like yours."

"Well, judging how I cut mine out of the picture, I'm assuming you're talking about the crone living in that tank in your room." Amira sneered. Mal gasped in offense.

"The Enchantress..." Beast gasped in horror.

"My mom wasn't _your_ enchantress!" Amira snapped. "Seriously, you kill your mom thirty years ago and the epic curse you personally threw is given to the dead woman as credit! Of course, _nobody_ would be believe that Amira Fattura cursed the beastly prince!"

The crowd gasped.

"So _you're_ the one who cursed Ben's dad!" Carlos exclaimed. He quickly looked at Martin. "Did you know this?"

"I could make you a list of all the annoying things that makes each ZAM member unique." Martin rolled his eyes.

"Time out." Marius demanded. "How come you know Penna and why did you try to poison me?"

"I used to be her tutor." Penna crossed her arm.

"YOU WHAT?" Beast nearly screamed.

"To be fair, she wasn't targeting you on purpose. Me cursing you was completely a twist of fate." Amira held her hands out in defense as she walked towards Penna. "See, thirty years ago..."

"She's actually 57." Penna pointed out. "Immortality."

"Right. Thirty years ago, I killed my mom because she was too much competition for me, and it caused me to have a villain's block, so I went to this evil sorcerers' convention in England for some inspiration. I ran into Penna De Mort who seemed to be congratulating Maleficent for successfully using the sleeping poppies Penna gave her to prepare that curse for Sleeping Beauty..."

Audrey and Mal both gave death glares to Penna, who couldn't help but chuckle nervously.

"So we ended up having a drink at the Leaky Cauldron and for the next month, she gave me tips and small lessons on cursing people into humiliation. A good one I remembered was to turn people into beasts if they don't give you what you wanted, so when I went to France during the winter, I tried disguising myself as a beggar to get some shelter from the cold because, hey, who can't let an old lady stay inside for the evening, right? WRONG! I ended up getting the door shut on my nose twice by a bratty prince that I decided to reveal myself and just curse the prince and everyone else because they were annoying."

"Yeah, I did not expect you to do that." Penna shook her head.

"I know, then I ended up running into you and you told me that you ran into this annoying hunter who tried to chop your head off while you were strolling the woods as a wolf, so _you_ cursed _him_ to be an internal beast and rot the rest of his life by chasing some girl."

"So not only is she responsible for my husband's curse," Belle said angrily to Penna, "but _you_ 're responsible for Gaston chasing me? What else could you have possibly done?"

"And while you're at it, could you possibly step five feet to the left?" Amira formed a circle with her hands, creating a ball of green light making cracking sound like electricity. "I'd hate for you to get hit while I aim for the prince."

Marius tensed. Angered, Penna unfolded her wings and held them in front of him, shielding him. "Since we are at it, why are you trying to kill him?" She scowled at Amira. "Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with you wanting to harm people, but don't start thinking that I'm not aware that you, unlike me, only kill people for sport."

"De Mort's right," Martin agreed. "Has Zemo finally lost it?"

"No, his boss is just picky." Amira shook her head to Penna. "You see, Zeniko's boss broke him, Mia Zola, and I out of the Raft so that we could turn you back to your original evil status and we'd all end up in another global war. But then that hybrid decided to burst in and go Prince Charming on you, making you flip like a butterfly while you lost more Kraken Needles. And without your needles, your Horcruxes make you more vulnerable, and without Horcruxes, you're dead."

"So _that's_ the reason Vannabella broke into the museum to steal Penna's artifacts!" Marius snapped. "Zeniko's master wanted to turn her evil!"

"That's twisted." Junk commented.

"Well honestly, the weakening status makes her dead weight, so he sees no purpose in her at all," Amira confessed. "So if she couldn't be controlled, she had to be killed. Which reminds me..." She threw her ball of magic at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It fell and, if Mal hadn't used a spell to turn the chandelier into a pile of sand, it would have crushed the table with the Fae Realm troupe.

"Everyone evacuate!" Ben ordered. Most of the guest didn't dare to disobey and made a run for it, except a few who were crazy enough to confront Amira.

" _Her powers may be big and tall, turn her into a lizard so small!_ " Mal threw a spell at Amira. The latter gave a smug chuckle and actually caught the spell in her hands, crushing it into her fist and reducing it to sparkles. Mal was shocked. "What on earth..."

"Silly Mal," Amira mocked. "The Raft is a prison more unique than the Isle. Not only is it much cleaner, but the prisoners just happen to be darker images of the Isle's prisoners! So if our mothers were each other's dark images, than I am your worst nightmare!" She created a green light oval ring and threw it like a disk at Mal, electrocuting her the moment she got stuck in the ring and dropping her unconscious on the floor.

"Where's my daughter?" King Branch, who was one of the few Auradonian royalties to have stayed back to fight, demanded.

"Trapped in a jar with two First Sector dimwits," Amira said. "I know one of them wouldn't hesitate to try eating a Troll..."

"You talk too much!" Feige whipped her hair at Amira, with Branch and Poppy joining in as well, but despite their tangible hair lashing out like dangerous vines, Amira easily jumped through them as if she were in gym class rather than saving her hide. She threw blasts at the Trolls, threatening to kill them until the Bog King, Marianne, and Marius grabbed them and flew them to safer ground.

"Thanks," Branch said.

"Anytime." The Bog King clenched his staff. "Now how do we deal with this wench?" Meanwhile, Penna smashed the ground with her fists. It shook and crumbled together into a stone snake-headed warrior that she sent to attack Amira. "Wow. You really know how to pick them, son."

"Thank you, but let's worry about our Amira problem here." Marius turned to Martin. "Fancy Pants, you've dealt with the ZAM Trio. How do we beat Amira?"

"I've mostly dealt with Zeniko, not with Mia or Amira," Martin confessed. "I do know that Zeniko used a Bifrost Stone to keep her powers under check..."

"You mean a rainbow rock?" Poppy pulled out a small pebble shaded with seven different colors while Amira was busy disintegrating Penna's stone warrior into an army of stone hounds that came barking at Penna until she threw a black orb at them and turned them into a tar liquid flowing its way towards Amira like giant black hands.

"That looks like it." Martin took the pebble in his hand. "But a small thing like this would only give Amira a mere headache. We'd need something that would make this thing big enough to give her a dozen migraines."

Penna threw Amira onto a table until the latter used her magic to turn all the silverware into a giant sword that melted away when Penna literally spit fire out of her mouth.

"I could try casting a growing spell," Minuit offered, "but unlike Penna, I could only make this trinket as big as a Labrador."

"Well do _something_ before the blonde freak starts ruining my future granddaughter- in-law!" Griselda snapped.

"I can't believe you weren't going to invite me!" Amira said in offense as she created large spiders out of the melted metal.

"Seriously, you're more worried about this?" Penna asked in disbelief while summoning giant bearded dragon lizards to eat the metal spiders.

Meanwhile, Minuit focused her energy onto the pebble until pink and purple six-pointed-stars appeared and drilled into the pebble. The thing grew and grew from ant size until it reached the ceiling, bring rainbow light into the room. Amira screamed and held her hands onto her head, her veins literally popping. Feeling like she didn't have a choice left, she created a ring portal and made a run for it. "Everything will crumble after the Tri-Relay, and the SAP send their regards, Penna!" The daughter of the Enchantress disappeared into the ring, leaving everyone stunned and Penna as pale as chalk. She snapped her fingers, turning the ballroom back in its original state.

"Maybe we should just find the real Troll teens," she said stiffly.

 _The next day_

"You don't think they'll cancel the Tri-Relay, do you?" Daylight asked Marius the next day at their camp.

After last night's fiasco, they instantly found the other Troll teen imposters and the real captive ones. Fortunately, only three others aside from Gladiola had been replaced and they had been trapped in a cookie jar hidden in the kitchen. Unlike Amira, the four they had caught were completely harmless, but they still got rounded up with their other rogue inmates. Even though today was the day before the Tri-Relay Race, which meant classes were canceled today, most people seemed agitated from last night's event at the castle.

Marius said nothing aside from giving Daylight a mere shake of the head. The fiasco had given him more disturbance than others. It was already a bad thing for him to know that he might have endangered Penna's life, but having an attempt on his life just because he got in the way of someone trying to make Penna back to her evil ways? It felt like swallowing daggers blade down. Even Impius purring in his lap didn't make him feel better.

The curtain of his tent pulled up and Fairy Queen Marianne came in. "Daylight, will you excuse us for a moment? Marius and I need to talk."

"Of course." Daylight bowed to her royal aunt and gave her cousin a good luck nod before making her exit. The queen sat down on the bed next to her son.

"This should have never happened," Marius said grimly. "I didn't want you and Dad to start hating Penna..."

"Your father and I don't hate her," Marianne reassured him. "You'd be surprised, but after reading all your letters talking about her, we thought of it as a déjà vu scenario of how I ended up loving a 'villain' like your father. We don't hate your girlfriend at all, we just didn't get the chance to know her enough personally." She put a hand on her son's shoulder and spoke firmly. "However, I did speak with Penna's friends and Maleficent's daughter Mal. Each have confirmed that you pulled Kraken Acupuncture Needles out of Penna's back, endangering her. Is that true?"

Marius bit his lips. He knew that he could never lie to his own mother, so he confessed. "When Kit told me Penna had those needles, I assumed the humans forced them into her, so I had one of the servants go back home to bring me back one of those...books from..."

Marianne instantly got the message and scowled at him. "Marius Bogfae, you know how your father and I feel about you using magic!"

"I was only trying to help her!" Marius protested.

"Then why didn't you speak with Sugar Plum or another magic-bearing fairies?" Marianne questioned. "Haven't you learned anything from your family's history or your lineage? You are a winged fairy, you weren't tasked with magic, so you shouldn't be playing with magic that you don't understand! For instance, your girlfriend Penna uses magic. She knows how to handle it and clean up after her messes."

"I know, Mom, but until I read how you were supposed to do it..."

"Show me the book."

Marius sighed and picked up the book that was standing on his nightstand and opened it to the page on the Kraken Acupuncture Needles. He let his mother read through it, hearing her say the words through her teeth and seeing her expression increase in disappointment when she was finished.

"You've done beyond disappoint me!" She said. "Messing with the emotions she had for you just so that you could remove her needles, even in intimacy! Do you know who that sounds like?"

"Roland." Marius lowered his head.

"And did your father and I raise you to be a jerk like Roland? Because I've also talked to the twins and the servants and they admitted to me that you've been acting like a jerk ever since you arrived in Auradon until Penna came and calmed you down!" She closed the book tight and held onto it while she lectured her son. "As of now, Marius Bogfae, you're forbidden from personally using magic without your parents' accord until you understand what kind of responsibility you're dealing with, am I clear?"

Marius nodded. "Yes, mother."

 _Meanwhile_

"You and your bright ideas!"

"Right back at you, GUM BREATH!"

"GAME FREAK!"

"Get off me! You got chocolate all over me!"

The Four Brats (Aaron confirmed that's what they were called) had been locked in their own force field and were treating each other so nastily, Ben and the adults had to keep Aaron's gang away from them and kept Vannabella trapped in her own force field in the local station used for interrogation.

"Such awful children!" Fairy Godmother exclaimed while they watched the brats fight. "I've seen misbehaving children, but these are the worst!"

"I can't blame Willywaffle Wonka for being able to sniff them out literally," Dwight said, his arms crossed. "I mean, these guys fought a lot back home, but now they're being ridiculous!"

"Who are their parents?" Ben asked.

"Let me see if I can get it right." Leona first pointed at the youngest of the four, a girl close to her age with long auburn blonde hair, hazel eyes, matching orange earmuffs and turtleneck dress despite it being the end of April, and her mouth smeared in chocolate as she stuffed more in her mouth. "That's Augusta, the daughter of Augustus Gloop." She then moved to the sixteen-year-old boy with curly brown hair who was complaining about Augusta spilling chocolate on his fancy pink sweater and beige cream waistcoat. "That's Vincent, son of Veruca Salt."

"Let me guess, the other two are the son of Violet Beauregarde and the daughter of Mike Teevee?" Ben was referring to the gum chewing sixteen-year-old platinum blonde boy with the blue attire and the seventeen-year-old girl with a blonde-dyed brown short hair and wild video game themed clothes, especially with the white T-Shirt she wore over her red long sleeved shirt. It screamed GAME IS LIFE REALITY SUCKS.

"The children that Willywaffle's dad kicked out of his factory for being naughty. Normally they don't annoy us back in the First Sector, but I guess Fattura saw use in the bad behavior aura they emitted in order to use that aura on us and get us to kill each other's necks."

"Another grand reason for why she's into killing people for sport, huh?" Shari guessed.

"But that's the thing I don't get!" Aaron said. "Vannabella and Amira are actually friends!"

"See, the thing is, the Second Sector villains are those who are obliged to take turns 'giving goodies' to the Third Sector villains since their cells incapacitate them," Leona explained. "Amira's cell is made of magic proof walls and she used to be chained to the ground, paralyzing her from any magic casting attempts. Vannabella was the one in charge of feeding her the prison gunk, so...Florence Nightingale makes a friend."

"At least I have fresh breath!" The gum-chewing boy snapped.

"At least I have a brain!" The video game girl snapped at him.

"At least I have everything I want!" Vincent snapped at him.

"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" The first two yelled while Augusta merely ate more chocolate.

"Should we let them be?" Dwight asked Aaron. "If were lucky, Augusta will choke on her eating pipes, Bexley will blow up, Vincent will have squirrels in his pants, and N Tina...well, I guess she can live. I personally have nothing against her."

"What kind of parents name their kid Antenna?" Beast asked.

"No, her full name is Natalie Tina Teevee, but since she's such an electronics and video game freak, we call her N Tina for short," Aaron explained."

"Forget the name calling." Leona pressed her nose on the window. "Am I the only one who noticed the weird bracelets they have?"

This caught their attention and they had a better look. Sure enough, they noticed that the four brats bickering in the room next door each wore a poison green cuff bracelet on their left wrists. The odd thing was that small white currents could be seen going through the metal, as if to create energy.

The bracelet on Augusta Gloop's arm vaguely glowed. None of the Auradonians failed to notice that the white currents in the bracelet suddenly went up the arm towards the area of the heart before disappearing, making the girl suddenly put aside her bars of chocolate and rub her eyes. Her Caucasian complexion even seemed to get paler.

"What's wrong with Augusta?" Bexley stopped arguing with N Tina. They and Vincent stopped arguing when they saw Augusta suddenly fainting slowly and falling on the table they were sitting. Worried, their wardens rushed inside the room and got rid of the force field to check on the poor girl.

"She's getting cold!" Fairy Godmother exclaimed as she placed a hand on Augusta's head while Bexley cradled her.

"I'll call an ambulance." Ben pulled out his phone.

"No! Taking her to the hospital won't help." N Tina frowned at the bracelet on her own arm. "Zeniko's boss has made his point with the bracelets."

"Why did he put them on you?" Aaron demanded.

"When he took over the Raft, all the Third Sector villains agreed to join him while those from the First and Second Sectors needed more convincing," Vincent said. "Those who willingly joined him were promised great rewards. Those who refused were forced these essence bracelets. If we fail or dare to disobey him, he uses the bracelets to drain our life forces. We die while he grows stronger." His own bracelet glowed and he collapsed like Augusta.

"Yeah, these two will be dead by the end of the week," N Tina said. "I can't say more."

"How many have died so far?" Aaron asked.

"Eh. Just two child-hating adults from the Second Sector. No major casualties yet." N Tina shrugged.

"Carly?" He bit his lip.

"She's safe with McScott. Although I don't know how long the safety will last. Aside from his boss forcing prisoners to run errands for him in Auradon, Zeniko is rounding up all those who dare to publicly defy him, threatening to feed them to the sea monster below the Raft."

"And the SAP?" Leona raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What happened to them?"

"They disappeared without a trace," Bexley said. "Last we heard, once the ZAM trio got freed, they took the opportunity to gather all their members and do their personal business elsewhere. They may have gone to the Isle to fetch some members there as well. I heard Starlight Glimmer went missing."

"What on earth is SAP?" Ben questioned.

"To be frank, you wouldn't be able to know what's worse." Aaron shook his head. "Because you'd have two problems instead of one."

 _Meanwhile, across the country_

Hermia Bartok froze the door handle with some ice magic, busting the lock and allowing her and her sister to open the door.

"This is it," she said. "Principal Melchior's apartment in Middleton."

"It's more untidy than I imagined," Ariel said.

Her sister nodded. After days of flying across states just to find clues about Principal Melchior's disappearance, they decided to first start at the place where he lived, and based on the St Luther school records, he lived in an apartment ten miles away from the school. Normally, people would think that a principal's apartment, especially if he were one of the Three Mages, would be like walking into an antique pawnshop, but Melchior's apartment was a mess. Papers were all over the floor, bookshelves full of ancient books were knocked over, ashes from the chimney fell onto the carpet, and the curtains were ripped.

"Either the housemaid forgot to come in or we never knew our own Principal," Ariel said. She opened up the nearest door, leading into an intact kitchen.

"Be careful!" Hermia warned. "We don't even know if Melchior's here!"

BANG! BANG!

"Is that the housemaid?" Ariel frowned. To answer her sister's question, Hermia held out her ears and used echolocation. "I hear thudding...from the bedroom!"

They found the door leading to the bedroom, which was shut tight. Another freezing spell on the doorknob and they got inside the bedroom, which was in an even more distressed state than the foyer. The sheets were unfolded, a suitcase filled with un-piled clothes rested on the bed, and the window was broken, giving enough room for pigeons to fly in and out. The Bartok sisters traced the thudding to the closet. Ariel opened the door and down came brooms and Melchior, his hair messed up, his grey pajamas wrinkly, and his mouth and limbs bound and gagged.

"Oh my gosh!" The girls got rid of his bonds and helped him sit up. "What happened to you?"

"He...He locked me up..." Melchior coughed. "He...OH, NO!" He leaned towards his suitcase and dug his way through the clothes. "My paper's gone! He took it!"

"Who took it?" Hermia asked.

"The... The man who broke into my apartment!" He said. "He broke through my window like a ball of light and knocked me out. The moment I woke up, I was bound and gagged and I thought...I thought I saw _myself_ putting me in the broom closet. I could hear him say... 'Now that I have a disguise to hide my schemes while I pose as headmaster, I now also have time to prepare for the games.'"

"So, if you're the real Principal Melchior," Ariel gasped, "then **who the heck was the guy faking to be you**?"

"When did you get replaced?" Hermia asked more patiently.

"It was in early January or something. The paper I was talking about was the paper Balthazar and I signed to confirm I would take over as St Luther Rose Academy's headmaster while he went on rejuvenating retirement." The man scratched his head. "But the strangest? For a moment, I thought that his form as a ball of light had purple horns shaped like snakes..."

The girls gasped in horror. " **HE SURVIVED!** "


	32. The Tri-Relay Race, Part 1

Chapter 32: The Tri-Relay Race, Part 1

While Auradon was busy preparing itself for tomorrow's Pride Games, nobody seemed to realize that something was stirring in London, specifically in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries.

Generally speaking, nobody is allowed to step inside that department ever since the mishaps with Voldemort, nor was it open after midnight, so it was worth to say that when the main door suddenly opened and led two dark silhouettes into the giant room full of nothing but shelves containing crystal balls glowing ominously, it could only mean trouble.

"I keep forgetting the amount of witches who live in England," one of the silhouettes said. "Are you sure that what you are looking for is hidden here?"

"Positive..." The first figure blinked. Something stood at the center of the department. It was a desk, similar to those secretaries in offices used to do paperwork. They got closer to the desk and found a sixteen-year-old goth girl, looking bored as hell, as she filled up a Sudoku booklet. "I didn't know the Ministry of Magic employed Muggles."

"Just an intern," the desk receptionist said in boredom. She flipped a business card at them. The second silhouette caught it in her hands.

"'Gwendolen Ainsley, British-Canadian, age 16, Muggle at 100%... Natural expert of all things related to astrology or astronomy,'" she read and gave the card back. "That would explain why they hired a Muggle as an intern."

"So not worth minimum wage," Gwendolen rolled her eyes. "Unless you're here to do something evil, I'm afraid the department's permanently closed."

"Actually, we are here for evil." The second silhouette said as she put her hands on the desk. "I came to see the Original Ball."

Gwendolen's eyes slightly widened. "The very first crystal ball? Why would you want that?"

"Oh, I don't want it. I want what's _inside_ it."

The goth girl frowned skeptically before finally shrugging. She got up, walked to a nearby shelf, and twisted one of the crystal balls' position counter-clock wise. The bricks on the floor moved and twisted to form an entrance on the ground with a staircase, lit with a similar ominous light, going downwards. "I'm _so_ gonna lose my job, but it's worth seeing what you're looking for."

"You mean you've never actually seen the inside of the Original Ball?" The first silhouette asked as they followed Gwendolen down the stairs, being careful as to step and slip on one of the leaky water puddles.

"No one has for more than ten thousand years," Gwendolen said. "I've only been interning here for three months now and I don't even know what's in there. All I know is that the wizard who hired me said that the only wizard who got to see the inside of the ball, live, and label it as dangerous, was Albus Dumbledore, but that guy's dead."

They reached the end of the staircase. All but the second silhouette gasped at the sight of the dark stone chamber being empty of everything but one large crystal ball, acting as the source of the ominous light thanks to all the glowing smoke shaped like ghosts it held beneath its glass surface. "That's a big ball," Gwendolen whistled.

"I care less about the ball than its content." The second silhouette walked towards the ball. She held up her right fist, making it glow with red light, and had it smash the glass surface. Simian hissing echoed all over the room as the glass cracked and shards exploded all over the room. Gwendolen and the first silhouette covered themselves to avoid the red ghostly magic tackling with the green ones while the second silhouette leaned into the remains of the destroyed Original Ball and pulled out...a pocket-sized hourglass that dangled from a silver chain her fingers clutched.

"That's it?" Gwendolen was disappointed. "I risked my job for a stupid hourglass?"

"On the contrary, you risked your job to help me uncover the mother of all Time-Turners." The silhouette holding the hourglass revealed her denim blue eyes with vertical scars. "Once I get the right magic from the right person, true justice will come to all my SAP followers and everyone in this wretched universe!"

 _The next day_

Fireworks exploded in the sky. Crowds were piling up all over the city to get a closer look at the Tri-Relay Race on this bright sunny day while a majority of the crowd and the royal attendants were at the Global Stadium, which was a grand blue-and-golden amphitheater bordering the sea. Screens were everywhere in the stadium, along with the TVs from everyone around the world and the screens of the residents of the Isle Of The Lost, who eagerly ate their popcorn and wore supportive T-Shirts to cheer for their children participating in the event.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Charles Frollo practically screamed from the radio booth of the Global Stadium. "Welcome to the event you've all been waiting for! The Tri-Relay Race of the Pride Games!"

The crowd went wild while the screens showed the first set of players. At Auradon Prep, the six participants were waiting behind a white line painted on the road in front of the statue of Beast, with Shari waiting patiently to shoot the departing bullet. On Team St Luther, there were the two children of Shadow the Hedgehog, Ebony and Shadow Jr, and Hu Xiongmao, while Team Auradon Prep had Haya, Minuit, and Karlos Python. Each team member wore a running suit with his or her designated school colors.

"Can your half brother, a lead guitarist, and a jeerleader beat the dude who can't even walk a flight of stairs and the twins who run faster than sound?" Leidi asked in a taunting voice. "We're about to find out!"

"I'm quite positive that we can't win this round," Karlos said as he crossed his arms in pessimism. "Those twins will make it to the finish line before we can!"

"Don't worry, I have a plan!" Haya winked. "But both of you will have to hold on to me."

Minuit and Karlos looked at her uneasily.

"On your marks...Get set..." Shari shot the bullet into the sky. A cloud of dust blocked the audience's sight, and when it cleared, only Hu was slowly running from the starting lines. "I don't get paid enough for this," Shari muttered.

The Ombre twins, who were responsible for the dust cloud, were already making their way towards the cloud. "And it's the twins from St Luther who get the lead!" Leidi said. "I don't even know what to say of the Auradon team and it looks like Hu is low on dumplings!"

Hu was already panting and sweating despite only running ten feet. Shari facepalmed herself.

"Speaking of low, where the heck is the Auradon Team?" Charles asked. "I mean, you'd think that a team made of solely VKs...Hold the phone!" He turned to Leidi. "Can you ask Corentine to clear up that dust?"

Leidi nodded and grabbed her phone, texting one of her foster siblings, Stormy Weather's biological daughter, Corentine. As the twins went straight into Carpet Boulevard, the crowd gasped as Corentine trailed the Ombre twins. With a swing of her umbrella, she created a gust of wind, clearing the view...and revealing that without noticing anything, the twins' waists were lassoed with the ends of a rope while the center of the rope was being clutched by Haya running madly while Karlos held onto her waist and Minuit onto his.

"Well that's something you don't see everyday," Charles said, baffled by the sight. "Hey, bro? I thought you were supposed to be slithering, not being dragged around!"

"I...can't...stop...RUNNING!" Karlos screamed through the running.

"Wait, when did you guys lasso us?" Ebony turned to ask them while managing to continue running, even when they made a left turn.

"Yeah, that dust should have totally blinded you!" Shadow Jr didn't keep his eyes off the goal.

"That's the power of dust-free contacts!" Haya gloated.

"Is this allowed?" Leidi asked. Charles pulled out the rulebook and flipped through the pages.

"Well it says right here that as long as the competitors run or avoid killing each other, no penalties are..." An orange flash of light ditched the stampeding troupe. A separate screen revealed the midtown point, where the motocross competitors were waiting for their running partners to arrive. Willywaffle Wonka and Othello Traviesa were seen pacing behind the drivers, with Willywaffle holding a pot full of steaming dumplings and Othello hitting on a cowbell.

"Dumplings! Steaming, pork dumplings with freshly seasoned herbs!" Othello shouted. "Free samples for panda and tiger clientele only!" The orange flash of light suddenly reached the midtown point and hit the brake, revealing to be Hu. Apparently, the scent of food reached all the way to Auradon Prep, convincing the lazy guy to turn into superhuman mode and make it all the way to midtown. After wolfing down all the dumplings in one second, Hu ran to Rita Rico and gave her a high five. She chuckled like a maniac as she put her goggles on and hit the fuel on her bike.

"And Rita Rico takes the lead for St Luther on the motocross segment!" The crowd from St Luther cheered wildly while those from Auradon Prep looked angry.

"OK, I'm fine beating Auradon Prep, but there's no way I'm getting in second place because of a dumpling-eating panda-tiger!" Shadow Jr exclaimed, his cheeks burning. He reached out his hand to Haya. "I'm gonna throw you at your motocross partner!"

"Wouldn't it be simpler if we all arrived at the same time?" Minuit asked cowardly.

"It's simpler to get rid of dead weight." Shadow Jr grabbed Haya's wrist, and with inhuman strength, managed to throw her, Minuit, and Karlos all the way to the motocross starting point as if they were lighter than a throwing hammer in the Olympics.

"Wow, I feel lighter!" Ebony said. The three members of the Auradon Prep running team landed on their butts and struggled to high-five their partners before the Ombre twins arrived themselves.

"Will you look at that?" Leidi whistled. "In an act of honor, the twins from St Luther risked everything and let the team from Auradon Prep go before them! Now that Haya, Karlos, and Minuit have reached their point, Ruby, Edina, and Moonlight are now on their way! Can they save our school's honor and catch up to Rita Rico before she reaches the Global Stadium?"

"Depends if she can first go through the obstacle of TRAFFIC!" Charles shouted.

Indeed, because the moment Rita Rico reached Rose Street, one of the usually busiest streets in midtown, she hit the brake when she saw the obstacle purposely laid out for the motocross competitors. All the way until the next block, the street was filled with lined up junkyard cards like in a sick attempt to reenact traffic on Friday rush hour.

"LOOK OUT, DUDES! SERIOUSLY!" Edina drove her bike madly into Rose Street and didn't even stop when she saw the obstacle. She instantly drove onto of them, purposely damaging them with her wheels, which still got her across.

"And Edina makes it through the first obstacle, making Auradon Prep in the lead!" Charles clapped his hands together. "Nothing speaks louder than crushing traffic like in a monster truck rally à la daughter of Motor Ed style!"

Rita Rico looked pissed. She literally threw up a flaming dynamite stick into her hand (even I don't know how that's physically possible) and threw it at the junkyard cars, clearing up the streets the same way an exterminator gases rats in your basement. She hit the fuel and drove to catch up to Edina, inadvertently also clearing up the way for the other drivers. Edina was screaming with insane victory until she hit Beastly Avenue (highly recommended for tourists, where they can find the best haute couture shops rated by Belle and Beast). For the purpose of the race, they had ice specialists like Forkjølelse and Harold Frost from Auradon Prep freeze the street and sidewalks, and because of their reckless natures, Edina and Rita both slipped off their bikes and crashed onto the ice.

"OOH, that's gotta hurt!" Leidi whistled. "I wonder why the local restaurants ran out of salt!"

While the former lead drivers struggled to get up and put their rides back up, the other four bikers were approaching, with Ruby and Moonlight on the lead.

"Can you use your magic to connect your bike with mine?" Ruby shouted to Moonlight.

"Does this answer your question?" Moonlight's eyes glowed and a blue chain appeared, connecting their vehicles.

"That'll do." Ruby twisted her right handle. Skates popped out and turned her bike into a motor ski. The girls easily rode over the ice until they reached the dry street, where Ruby got rid of the skis and went back to solo driver after Moonlight got rid of her magical chain.

"Sweet ride," she complimented.

"I know! The things my dad gives me are insane!"

"And once again, Auradon Prep is on the lead!" Charles said over the microphone, causing the crowd to go wild. "This is just another proof on how money will get you anywhere!"

Dusk and Pufflette from St Luther quickly caught up, though. After a risky raise of her hand, Dusk actually summoned a hot ray of sunlight that melted the ice ahead of them, which also cleared the way for Rita and Edina, who looked equally pissed about the notion of losing their lead.

The drivers made it to the before-last-obstacle: going down Cavern Tunnel without any of the lights turned on to light the way.

"Lunar Wisps, light the way!" Moonlight created a ball of blue fire and threw it at the tunnels entrance. A trail of blue will-o-the-wisps appeared and guided her and Ruby through the tunnel.

"Handy!" Ruby commented.

"Just my way of saying thanks!" Moonlight shouted.

Meanwhile, Rita and Edina had quickly caught up to Dusk and Pufflette. Once again, Rita threw up something out of her mouth: this time, it was some sort of automated flying drone shaped like a colorful disco ball that illuminated the tunnel like a neon lights party, lighting the way.

"How do you even manage to swallow this stuff, seriously?" Edina was baffled. Rita merely shrugged.

"Looks like Rita Rico from St Luther managed to turn the Cavern Tunnel into a club party!" Leidi was impressed. "Maybe we should have her take care of the graduation party!"

"You wish! Meanwhile, the drivers have all made it out of the tunnel and it's a race for first place across Equality Bridge and straight to the Global Stadium!" Charles shouted. The crowd clapped in excitement as they watched the competitors drive towards Equality Bridge, a unique tied-arch bridge built in the city to symbolize equality among the citizens ever since the United States of Auradon were created. Of course, it's also know to be the narrowest tied-arch bridge in the country, so only pedestrian and people riding small, light vehicles from bicycles to a limousine could ride it. That's why this obstacle was void of any crowd, leaving room for only the motocross competitors. In order, we had Ruby, Moonlight, Dusk, Edina, Rita, and Pufflette racing for first place. But to everyone, it seemed evident that...

A green explosion came out of nowhere and hit the bike of Pufflette, causing her to fall off her vehicle. She tumbled on the road before finally holding onto dear life when she happened to land in a manhole shaped opening roughly the size of an SUV van, as if it was perfectly outlined and waiting for her to drop to her death.

"HELP!" Pufflette screamed. "I'LL DROWN!"

The crowd gasped.

"Call the cops, quickly!" Charles told Leidi, who quickly grabbed her phone.

Ruby glanced at Pufflette from her rear glass. She couldn't keep herself. "Moonlight, get to first place for me!" She hit her pedals and made a turn around. The other competitors gave her 'Are you crazy' glances as she drove back to the bridge and stopped her bike, jumped off it and made a run for the manhole. "Pufflette, hang on!" She shouted.

"I'm trying...AAAAAAH" Her fingers couldn't stand it. Pufflette ended up letting go, dooming her to a certain underwater grave. Good thing Ruby grabbed her wrist and pulled her up with all her strength.

"It's OK, you're safe now." Ruby let Pufflette breathe while she inspected the latter's now damaged vehicle. Most of the front was damaged and the mechanism melted. Green electricity cracks could be seen hovering on the split wires. Ruby checked the wires. "Pufflette, are these wires made of anti-magic currents?"

"Yeah, back home we use a complex system of wires to make sure our vehicles don't get damaged from exposures like magic, so they mostly run on digital power." Pufflette limped to join her and check the damage. "It's so weird though. I double-checked my bike just before the Tri-Relay started and it was fine."

"Well, somebody clearly sabotaged it." Ruby concluded. "But damaging your vehicle and then this man hole popping out of nowhere just when you fell off your bike? It was already obvious before, but right now it's a 100% clear that somebody doesn't want the Tri-Relay Race to end well."

The girls went back to catch up with the other racers. Even though Ruby had made the unexpected turn, Auradon Prep still managed to make it first to the Global Stadium thanks to Moonlight with Dusk following her in second place. The crowds cheered as the racers came to the center of the arena to receive their medals. While that was happening, the competitors for the martial arts tournament were getting individually ready before taking their turn to get up on the arena and fight.

The rules of the martial arts segment of the Tri-Relay Race were that, depending on who came in what order during the motocross segment, their partners in the last segment would fight first and the others would follow. The finale would be determined by which two competitors among the top three ended their battles quickly. Any technique could be used aside from lethal weapons, and of course, killing.

The order, based on the motocross results, made the order of battles as such: Penna De Mort vs Ronilda Stoppable, Fa Li Lonnie vs Meirong Dashi, and Martin Fiske vs Cassie Mushu. Among the winners of the three battles, only the top two would fight each other.

Penna could feel herself sweating as she tightened the cuff sleeves of the jumpsuit she and the other competitors had to wear. She dreaded this competition. Not just because she was being watched by almost the entire world, but because she knew the odds weren't going to be in her favor today. She did have a fair chance of winning, she had knowledge of martial arts, and frankly Stoppable was petty compared to her, but she feared the high chance she had of being in the finale. Knowing what she was dealing with, it was pretty evident that regardless of who won the second battle, Martin Fiske would easily win his battle against Cassie, making him her opponent in the finale, and when combining his ruthless battle styles, his Mystical Monkey Power, and his illegal seven chi blocking technique with her current high vulnerability, Penna would get the humiliation of her life, if not dead.

 _Good thing he doesn't know what I did to him in the past_ , she thought to herself. _I already have enough after my hide._ She got up and left for the arena.

"Here she is!" Leidi was shouting through the microphone as Penna and Ronilda got up on the platform. The crowd's cheering was ringing in Penna's ears, making her feel uneasy. Her eyes darted around the stadium. Just up ahead, the VIP booth was occupied by many royals, she could even see Marius give her an encouraging hand wave, and right behind...

She blinked. For a moment, she thought she had seen Principal Melchior with a suspiciously familiar shadow, but she then saw there was nothing there. _I must be hallucinating_ , she concluded.

"BATTLE BEGIN!" The gong dinged.

"Don't kill me!" Ronilda shouted as she ran towards Penna, holding her fists up and creating blasts of blue light with screeching noises. Penna rolled her eyes. Even with Mystical Monkey Power, this was just too easy for her. She swung down a hand right onto Ronilda's left shoulder, weakening the left blast, and quickly did the same to the right elbow before giving the girl a small flick on the forehead. Ronilda's blasts instantly disappeared and she dropped on the floor.

"Wow! It took De Mort less than ten seconds to KO Stoppable! That means Auradon Prep is guaranteed a spot in the finale!"

Some cheered, others muttered, as the two girls walked out of the arena and headed back to the locker rooms while Meirong and Lonnie took over. The Dark Lord's daughter placed a hand on her forehead while the other rested on the wall, keeping her up and steady as she struggled to walk. All of a sudden, her head was aching and images flashed into her head, along with voices echoing through her nerves like an electric wave.

 _We've...got to get back...to surface._ Hands were crawling their up a rocky surface from a fiery bottom as a voice hissed, making Penna feel like she knew the voice. _Must...protect..._

The image then changed. She saw the Global Stadium in rumble, the audience unable to move from their seats but able to scream as they were forced to watch the VKs, Auradonian kids, and the St Luther reformees being unevenly outmatched by dark shadows. The scariest part of that image was some sort of blue light formed like a jellyfish trapping Lonnie and Martin Fiske in its tentacles. The teens were screaming as lightning bolts rendered them unconscious and a black cloud veiled them.

 _Tick, tick, tick,_ another taunting voice mocked her. Her silhouette could be seen but the hourglass she was waving on her finger was visible in the light. "No..." Penna gasped.

 _The_ ocean waves suddenly went up like a geyser and a titanic human-crab hybrid was dancing her way through the waves. _SHINY_ , she screamed.

Ruby was crying while a monstrous creature, its face unrevealed to Penna, choked her with one hand before preparing to impale her with the spear he had instead of his other hand.

 _I propose a toast...to the end of Penna De Mort!_ The same voice who played with the hourglass was now laughing maniacally above the sound of clinging champagne glasses and blue, austere banners.

The last image she saw scared her the most out of all the previous. In the last one, Marius was desperately flying through some sort of energy tunnel. Colors were dashing to the point of non-existence, images barely flashed, and voices echoed away, unable to discourage the prince from changing directions.

 _Your parents made their choices. Now you make yours._

 _Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die!_

 _My pain will be forgotten and I'll have a brighter future ahead of me!_

 _Selene and Helios, reverse your cycles! Oceanus and Kronos, turn back the days and years' spirals! Change Penna De Mort's fate, so that with this power, I shall suffer no more!_

 _True love couldn't even save your sweetheart from inevitable death! What kind of fool are you, silly prince? Thinking that defeating me was possible is anything_ _ **but**_ _possible!_

" **PENNA!** "

"WHAT?" Penna yelped back to reality. Marius was there, holding her in his arms, as if he had caught her from fainting. She blinked and she saw that she was still in the hallway. "W...What happened?"

"How should I know?" Marius asked. "Five minutes after the second battle started, I came to talk to you about something, and then I saw you acting as if you had a migraine. Is everything alright?"

"No!" Penna pushed him away from her and struggled to straighten up. "You...you should get back to your folks."

"But Penna..." Marius held out his hand, but Penna pushed him away. Her eyes glowed with vicious teal light and serpentine flames of magic exploded behind her.

" **I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!** " She shouted before suddenly breaking down into tears. "Please...just go."

"I can't." He cupped his hands onto her cheeks. "I love you."

"If you did..." Penna bit her lips. She could feel her heart break and her ears ignoring the speakers saying that Fa Li Lonnie had won the second battle and now it was on to the one between Martin and Cassie. She grabbed his hands and forced them away from her. "If you did love me, you'd let me out of your life... because it's what's best for you and for your kingdom." She backed away from him and ran into the darkness of the hallway. "I'm sorry...it's over!" Despite the prince's protests, she ran as far as she could until she reached the locker room. The door slammed behind her and her body blocked it as she cried non-stop on the floor.

 _ **Welcome back**_ , an old voice said.

"It has been determined!" Charles Frollo shouted through the microphone. "Facing off in the finale, from Auradon Prep, will be Penna De Mort and Martin Fiske!"

Penna dried her tears, her expression suddenly darkening.

 _ **It's high time you remind these Muggles whose daughter you really are**_ , the voice said.

 _Back in Auradon Prep_

"It's...high...time," Artemis Nightmare was muttering through his teeth despite still being under a comma.

 _In the local station_

"It's high time," Aaron Duncan sighed as he and the other Raft VKs watched the Tri-Relay Race event unfolding live on TV right when the wall exploded and an unknown force disposed of the guards.

 _Back at the Department of Mystics_

Gwendolen inspected the astral projection of the stars floating above the shelves in the department. Thirteen falling stars flew across the Cancer constellation. She clasped her hands behind her back and spoke to the two silhouettes who had come earlier today. "The stars have confirmed. It's high time."

"Perfect," the denim blue-eyed silhouette snickered. Her hand toyed with the time-turner she now held onto on a chain necklace around her neck.

 _Meanwhile, at the Fae Realm camp_

"I can't believe we have to bring down the tents while almost everybody else is at the event!" One of the goblin servants complained as he and his buddy took down the tent meant for the steeds.

"Hey, it was the king's orders!" The other shrugged. "As soon as the prince finalizes the alliance with Auradon and proposes to his lady, we...GAAH!"

A hand emerged out of the earth, followed by another pair and four others that desperately tried to claw their way out. The goblin servants instantly dropped what they were doing and got a hold of the hands, pulling them out the same way one plucks off a weed, only instead of roots, they had six teenagers, each looking rather skinny, burned, and covered in ashes.

"FINALLY!" A half-shaven boy exclaimed. "Tartarus was suffocating!"

"What on earth is going on here?" One of the goblin servants demanded as they let them stand on the ground.

" _We know this may sound weird,_ " a girl with strange golden eyes said, " _but we have to go to Auradon Prep. My sister's in danger!_ "

"Your sister?"

" _Yes! She thinks her worst nightmare is dead, but he's not! He's alive and he's planning on crashing the Tri-Relay Race! People will die and she's his main target!_ "

"The Tri-Relay Race?" The second goblin looked at the first one. "The monarchs are there! Suppose they are in trouble..."

"Our monarchs can handle a zombie," the first rolled his eyes.

"Sure," a brunette girl said, "but can they handle...you know who the hell we're talking about! Just get us a ride to Global Stadium!"


	33. The Tri-Relay Race, Part 2

Chapter 33: The Tri-Relay Race, Part 2

The crowds were going wild in the Global Stadium. All eyes were fixed on the arena as the two finalists made their slow, steady steps drag them up the stairs and towards the platform. People were just eager to find out how this would turn out. After all, it wasn't everyday that you would watch the 116-year-old daughter of a dark sorcerer fight off the son of a Tai Shing Pek Kwar megalomaniac. Some were already betting their monthly allowances for the evident winner.

Only Marius Bogfae looked the least cheerful from the royal booth. His stressed hands were clutching onto the rail and his eyes were widely glued onto the arena. "This can't be right..." He muttered. "This can't be right..."

"What can't be right?" He turned and saw Ruby standing at his left. "Are you having the same bad wave that something's not right here?"

"Depends." Marius gave a skeptical frown. "What's yours?"

"I find rather off that the two teens who had the most mishaps ever since the Pride Games started are facing each other during the finale. And then Martin acted weirdly when I came to see him before this...It's like all of a sudden, he's not the same Martin Fiske who asked me to..." Her voice trailed off.

"Yours too?" Marius exclaimed. "Even Penna screamed at me to stay away from her! She told me 'it's over' and ran off!"

"Seriously? I've heard she's insecure and all but breaking up with you? It's like..." Her face paled. "Marius, I think she was trying to tell you to stay away from her because she's afraid of killing you like she killed Mandire, and this isn't the first time Martin's told me he'd rather..."

She didn't need to finish.

"IT'S A LETHAL SETUP!" They realized out loud.

"May the finale begin!" Charles Frollo shouted and the gong rung.

It took less than a second for Penna to instantly punch the arena with her fist. Black snakes as dark as death slithered through the stone tiles and hissed black bolts at them. It was evident that she had turned the arena into an electric field to shock him, but Martin was fast and managed to kick himself off the ground. He brought his hands up and a light appeared. The crowd gasped when they saw him throw it straight at Penna, who managed to dodge it. Of course, mere contact with the electric field caused the arena to be filled with flames.

"What the hellfire?" Charles Frollo exclaimed.

"Since when does Fancy Pants have fire powers?" Marius glared at Ruby.

"I only knew he had Mystical Monkey Power!" Ruby raised her hands in protest. Laughter suddenly echoed in the Global Stadium. An evil laugh that only a few unlucky ones recognized. A laugh that only belonged to one person is this doomed world.

"Is that the best you got?" Penna mocked Martin once she was done laughing and gave him a 'bring more' gesture of the hand. "I'm getting bored here!"

"I'm sorry. I was busy getting medicine for my allergy...of _you_!" Martin held his hands out. Red lightning cracked out of his claws and turned nearby tiles into giant mandrake roots that tried caging their way over Penna. The latter became dizzy from her known allergy of mandrake roots. Martin smirked cruelly and tightened his fists, compressing the cage over Penna.

"It seems the finalists have decided to start killing each other!" Leidi spoke in terror through the microphone. "We need to call off the event!"

"I've had it!" Marius flew of the royal booth in order to put an end to it. However, the moment he flew above the first row in the bleachers, the moment something glowed and blocked him in the way. If his parents hadn't caught him, he'd be crashing into screaming spectators.

"Marius, are you alright?" Queen Marianne asked.

"Why should I be? Penna's stuck in there!" Marius tried to reach out for Penna, but the glow wouldn't let him pass. "Penna!"

"It's a barrier! Like a miniature version of the Isle's own barrier!" Mal was quick to conclude. "Somebody doesn't want us to interfere with their battle!"

The mandrake root cage suddenly exploded into broken pieces as a dark tornado spun its way around the area. Martin tried to dodge as best as he could, but he couldn't miss the kick he got in the stomach and caused him to crash five feet away. The tornado cleared and revealed a sight that wasn't seen in months. Voldemort's daughter standing there in her old evil glory, wearing a dark green, long sleeved shirt with a purple V-neck collar shaped like a snake, revealing her cleavage, a teal snake designed belt that held up a black sheath skirt, leggings of snakes meddled with one another as if they tried to do a serpentine version of the rat king circle, razor sharp purple chunky heels, violet snake wrist bracelets, a diamond riviere necklace made of purple baby snake-like diamonds, viper fang-shaped pearls, and a golden conch shell, coiled cobra shaped earrings, and her hair pulled back to look like it was slithering.

"Looks like I'm back." She snickered, her tongue clicking as she hissed the 's' like a snake. " _Immobulus!_ " A blast of white lightning bolted out of her fingertips and aimed for Martin. A blue sphere appeared out of nowhere and shielded him from the immobilizing spell.

"Apparently the odds are in my favor today!" He snickered. "Your magic has no direct effect on me!"

Penna only laughed in retaliation. "Poor boy, you thought _that_ was it? Allow me to remind you why I was dubbed the Princess of Evil!" She put herself in a crucified position and her eyes glowed in an ominous teal color that emitted sonar-like waves across the stadium and caused the ground to shake.

"What's she doing?" Ben asked.

"She's doing what she did best!" Minuit exclaimed as she, Jessie, Feige, and Dårlig rushed to the front rows and ignoring the crowd's screams.

That's when it happened. Like weeds on an insane summer day, snakes of all sorts of species sprouted their heads out of the ground and shook viciously. They ranged with all sizes, one of each species. A basilisk, a pythonaconda, a green anaconda, a Burmese python, a reticulated python, an African rock python, an Indian python, an Amethystine python, a boa constrictor, a yellow anaconda, a dark-spotted anaconda, a papuan python, a black mamba, a king cobra, an Inland taipan, a boomslang, a European viper, a sea krait, a horned viper, a copperhead, an Eastern diamond back rattlesnake, and even one small grass-snake...Twenty-two snakes going from constrictors to venomous predators was enough to give an experienced herpetologist a killing nightmare.

As if they knew what they were doing, the limbless monsters saluted Penna De Mort, who hissed at them. " _Rise, konkuer, and kisl. Rise, konkuer, and kisl. Rise, konkuer, and kisl!_ " The radar vibrations transferred into the snakes. They viciously hissed and nodded and shook in their buried position until one by one, each dug something out of the ground.

An arm.

"What...the...hell?" Marius and everyone else were gagging at the sight of the snakes, against all rules of nature, growing human arms and legs with hints of scales on their skins and forcing their way out of the ground. Whatever rubble they caused merged with their skin, creating knight armors and lethal weapons made out of pure metal. Despite their new humanoid appearances and the fact that you could physically tell what gender they were, their heads still remained like those of snakes. All the constrictor snakes were tall brutes, with the tallest being the basilisk and barely an inch taller than Penna herself, and they mostly carried machetes, nets, and lassos, clearly proving they relied on brute strength. The venomous snakes wore helmets or crowns (depending on the gender) made of melted fangs and venom, you could still see the fluids flowing in the texture, and carried lethal swords and axes. The grass-snake only wore at least ten knives strapped on her arms and ten shurikens on her legs, she was a walking snake ninja.

"So _that's_ how she made her army!" Ruby said.

"Keep your eyes away from the basilisk's!" Mal warned. "They'll kill you on the spot!" Her advice seemed to have been pointless. The moment Martin heard her scream, he waved his hands in an oval form and red ghostly monkeys screeched until they created a mirror that reflected the basilisk warrior's stares right back at its eyes. The monster hissed hysterically as it turned into stone and crumbled into ashes. Its comrades looked at its remains in sympathy.

"OK, I actually did not see _that_ one coming." Penna casually admitted before directing her finger at Martin. "Kill him," she flatly said. The warriors instantly attacked Martin in a wasp mass. He fought back and moved his two hands in the same movement required for his trademark illegal seven chi blocking technique. A large red shield shaped like his mark of villainy slashed its way through the warriors, burning them into crisps. Penna tried to fly her way out, but since the shield was half the height of the barrier that surrounded her and Martin, her right leg got in the way of the shield. She crashed her way onto the ground, courtesy of her now paralyzed leg that seemed to be giving her entire body a whole lot of pain. Martin sneered and held his left hand out. The deadly shield shrunk and turned into a disc flying straight at him, turning into a dangerous Asian saber the moment his fingers caught it. He dragged it on the ground, the metal cracking sparks from being sharpened, as he walked towards Penna like an executioner.

"You know what I solely like about your revolting pets?" He sadistically asked Penna. "Their hides make lovely accessories, only I think I'll turn yours into a tapestry and hang it on my wall...or maybe I'll just stuff your head up. I don't know, I just can never make up my mind when it comes to casualty leftovers!"

Penna snorted. "I should have disposed of you when I had the chance seventeen years ago. You're just as insane as _her_."

"I don't know who you're talking about." Martin raised his sword up, aiming to slice through her neck.

"NO!" Marius screamed.

THUD!

It happened so quickly. No one managed to see it. The only thing we managed to learn in the future was that Ruby had snuck through the front rows, grabbed some electric wires, and used them to electrocute the barrier out of the way, leaving her room to grab Martin and push him away from Penna. The screens showed his oddly blank eyes blinking until he got his natural shadowy grey color. "W...What happened?" He stammered while the sword disappeared and Marius rushed over to Penna. This time, she didn't refuse his help and let him grab her arm and place it over his shoulders in order to help her stand.

"Isn't it evident?" a voice said out loud.

It was Principal Melchior who spoke. They all turned to see the man drag his feet up to the arena, but what a sight he was! His head was bare of anything but purple spots where the hair should have been, his skin was more wrinkled than usual, and his green uniform attire was getting more ragged than usual. His eyes were tainted blue, but a really disturbing blue. The sight of the former principal of St Luther was enough for most of the reformee parents present in the Global Stadium to rush and cover their children who had studied under his supervision.

"You try to tame two monsters with dangerous capabilities, let them run amok to do whatever they wish, and this is what happens," he said solemnly. "They start fighting each other until one stands as the most powerful. Who's to say that if there wasn't that barrier, these two beasts would have destroyed us without even blinking?"

"That's rich, coming from the man who tried to contaminate his own students with microscopic bombs!" Marius spat. Principal Melchior looked at him with a stare full of venom while Penna, of all the people, actually cowered behind Marius. "You were the one responsible for everything, weren't you? Releasing the ZAM-Trio, forcing the other descendants from the Raft to either serve you or get killed, and having them create mishaps all over Auradon..."

"Indeed." Everyone gasped as Principal Melchior shamelessly admitted his guilt. "And evidently, I should have killed you the moment you put your foot in Auradon." He pointed an accusatory finger at Marius and continued to drag his feet to the center of the arena. "See, my original plan was to have my slaves sabotage the Pride Games so that everyone would think De Mort was responsible and reverting to her evil ways, which would have led her to being shunned by everyone and resume her old evil personality..."

"And be _your_ slave, since Penna used to be Voldemort's former brainwashed general in his evil army!" Ruby gasped.

"Exactly. But then this _hybrid of a prince_ had to ruin everything!" Melchior shouted. "With Voldemort out of the picture and no longer controlling her, she easily became the victim of the genetically freaked bug's ways of charming her with words an act of love. The part that disgusted me the most was the fact that his genuine passion for her caused her to lose close to eleven of her Kraken Acupuncture Needles, leaving her so physically and emotionally week, I had to label her as useless in my plan and orchestrated her death!"

"And you set up the museum assault for Vannabella Rídegel to steal Penna's Horcruxes!" Marius was enraged. How could this human do this to Penna?

"Oh, you mean these?" Melchior pulled a box out of his left sleeve and opened it, revealing twelve items lined up. An Arabian bottle, a golden ball with matching wings, an emerald egg, a pentagon shaped card, a red feathered quill, a necklace made of snake fangs, a Mother's Day card, a glass vial holding locks of hair, a green-covered book, a broken lantern, and a cobra skull.

"My Horcruxes!" Penna's eyes widened in horror! "But...but..."

"Did you honestly think you had the real ones after the field trip?" Melchior grabbed the bottle and clutched it in his hands. Penna's body instantly crunched up and she began screaming. Marius tried reaching out for her, but Melchior used the Horcrux to drag Penna in the air and have her float towards him like a helpless ragdoll. "As everyone was busy with my...first team of failures from the Raft, I sent another team to fetch me the Horcruxes that you hid in the museum. Vannabella and her friends revealed themselves far cleverer than I expected for Muggles and monster. Using small extract of Ethelinda's pet..."

"Ethelinda Edgar?" Beast gasped. "My insane cousin?"

" _Your_ cousin?" Ben said in shock.

"Can we get back to me?" Melchior snapped. "Ethelinda Edgar and her allies used her pet snake's DNA to block the tracking spell De Mort had once placed over her Horcruxes in case they were stolen. They then used a doppelganger of the Horcruxes and their box to distract you all. While everyone caught Vannabella and the copy of the Horcruxes and De Mort was too distracted about finding a better hiding place than assuring she had the accurate ones, Ethelinda Edgar and her other ally Randy Boggs made a run through the back door with the authentic pieces. Who knew that Muggles could be so effective, especially when almost all the Raft villains I have under my control are Muggles?"

"You...couldn't find any sorcerers to fit your tastes?" Penna struggled to speak through her pain.

"Oddly enough, none of the sorcerers in the Raft were interested. I tried to add some convincing to their society of theirs until their leader offered me a deal I couldn't resist," Melchior admitted. He glared at Penna. "If you end up surviving what there is to come, which I highly doubt, you'll see what the SAP have cooked up for you. I'm guessing it's bad, judging by how they agreed to stay neutral in my battle."

"Why wouldn't they join you?" Ruby scoffed. "Let me guess. They thought they were better than you or they were too chicken to get sent back to prison just for helping you?"

Melchior tightened his grip on the Arabian bottle, making Penna scream even more. "Actually, they didn't. The moment I put the Raft villains in a rampage, all the SAP members teleported away on the spot. Their leader was the last one to leave. After I failed to convince her to have her and her entire society join me, I tried to duel her for the position, but she actually managed to beat _me_ of all the people! I'm still in quite a damage. If she hadn't sworn on the River Styx that she wouldn't help Auradon protect Penna De Mort as long as we both stayed clear out of each other's businesses, I'd be dead before I even put my foot in Auradon Prep."

"That's no wonder, RIDDLE!"

Everyone looked up and saw the Bartok Sisters flying in. Ariel Bartok was struggling to both fly and carry someone on her shoulders at the same time. The moment they put foot in the arena, the moment the person got off Ariel and revealed himself.

" _Two_ Principal Melchior?" Marius pointed two confused fingers at them. "I...I don't understand..."

"Clearly one of them isn't the real one," the Bog King said. "But how do we determine which is who?"

Penna snorted. "Way too easy."

They all looked at her.

"Anyone, I'm over a century old!" She whistled through her pain. "I've personally dealt with the mages, those hippies who kept trying to lead me to the path of righteousness back when I was evil. I knew Melchior well enough to know that he's not crazy about dealing with children, but he deals with it because his Mage Oaths demand it." She looked at the Principal Melchior looking at her. "You clearly have _no_ responsibility towards children. You had no problem handing around grenadines filled with bombs or threatening to expel them. You seemed to have taken it rather personally when you expelled Sternia Snape, and in fact, I have a good reason to believe that _you_ were the one who put the mandrake roots at her table during the potion-making event. Because of my allergy of it and our complicated history, people were bound to accuse her for trying to avenge her father."

'Principal Melchior' smirked. "I guess I haven't wasted one century, one decade, and sixteen years then! HA! HA! HA!" Black smoke encircled him and dissolved like snakes. He no longer looked human. That overly aged man had three horns sticking out of his head like hissing cobras while a trail grey smoke slithered where his hair was. His lavender skin and bluish eyes were awfully familiar.

The crowd screamed when they saw an old monster appearing before them.

" _That's_ your father?" Marius stared, baffled, at Lord Voldemort.

" **Who did you think she was related to? The Horned King?** " Voldemort said sarcastically in his old, dark voice.

"But how on earth is that possible?" Mal choked. "You...Lonnie destroyed you and the Villains Comet!"

"Well apparently, it didn't work," Ariel said gruffly. Many held out their weapons at the ready.

" **True, Fa Li Lonnie had me in a...tight position** ," Voldemort confessed. " **But she forgot that my...offspring was a backup Horcrux. So when she forcefully extracted me out of the latter's body, she thought she had annihilated me into oblivion, but I actually turned into a disembodied spirit that flew away in a shard of light that happened to land right in Principal Melchior's home the eve before he left to take on the role as principal of St Luther Rose Academy.** "

"And while you were busy toying with everyone by posing as our principal, the real one was locked up in a broom closet in his own home for about four months!" Hermia said angrily.

"Four months?" Penna looked at the beast who brought her to life. "Why spare him? It's...highly against your twisted morals."

" **It's true that I could have just killed him,** " he nodded, " **but then I found myself in an unfortunate pickle. Since I only have one Horcrux to rely on, my body and soul wouldn't stay stable for long. Since the mages use rejuvenating magic, I implanted a parasite on Melchior to gradually consume his essence while he remained alive. Even now I'm trying to sustain myself with the essences of the Raft villains using the brainwashing bracelets I've placed on them and I'm still not getting better! I knew one way or another, I'd have only two possibilities left: find my way back to repossessing my offspring or reproducing more offspring with more Horcruxes for me to expand my immortality!** "

"So basically you're repeating what you did last time!" Marius concluded. "Reincarnating yourself in Penna's body and brainwashing her mind out of existence for you to fully recover, and once you were done, turning Fa Li Lonnie into your personal Death Eater Queen so that she'd give you enough descendants with fates just like Penna's! Just waiting for the fateful day when their father would kill them and invade their bodies just so that he could live longer!"

" **It was SO simple!** " Voldemort hissed. " **Triggering the odds so that Auradon Prep and St Luther would face each other during the Pride Games, giving me a chance to approach my targets, freeing the Raft villains who either accepted or reluctantly agreed to help me create a turmoil of events that pinned Penna and the others into alienation, and even force feeding the Belle Reve Formula into the students in case I needed to blackmail my way out! I had one of my new allies manage to strike Artemis Nightmare into a coma, leaving his precious Fa Li Lonnie vulnerable without his protection.**

" **But then** _ **you**_ **came!** " Voldemort pointed a wrinkled finger at Marius while his smoke hair agitated. " **I purposely ensured that my offspring would be unable to love or be loved, but after one of the ZAM-Trio's allies from outside the Raft warned us that the Prince of the Fae Realm was actually managing to woo his way through my offspring, I knew that he was trouble. Despite all my event triggering to have you disgusted out of the way, you still stuck like an annoying blister and managed to not only keep charming my offspring, but also remove a majority of her Kraken Needles, severing my chances of returning in her!** "

He crushed the bottle he was holding. Penna screamed as a ball of blue light choked its way out of her throat and exploded in the air. " **And** _ **you**_ **! I wasted decades to turn you into a mindless puppet and this is how you reward me! By falling in love with a fairy goblin prince of all the mixed species! In case you haven't noticed, because of our psychic bond, I was highly aware of your night of pleasure with the rascal who just wanted to ensure that you were fertile or else he couldn't bring you to the Fae Realm! And guess what? Back when Tara Sam Scam posted her little jam, I was the first to realize that she actually overheard a conversation between Fairy Godmother and Sugar Plum, and after some research, I found out that you two,** " he pointed at Penna and Marius, " **were arranged by your respective maternal divine ancestors to be together after the Villains Comet came**!"

Murmurs went through the crowd. The Fae Realm monarchs looked angrily at Sugar Plum and Fairy Godmother. Penna was the most baffled and she looked at Marius. "W...We... _We're engaged_?"

 **"Oh, rest assured! A blessing won't be coming out of me! In fact, nine chances out of ten say that you won't be alive in thirty minutes!** " Voldemort grabbed the next Horcrux, the winged golden ball. His eyes glowed ominously the same way his daughter did previously. Figures stood up all over the stadium, assaulting the guests or stepping out of their costumes as security staff, maintenance, and guards. All were a group of young adults, each with a peculiar appearance that made no one guess that they were VKs. " **RAFTERS! It's playtime!** "

"Finally!" Amira jumped up and aimed green blasts at Marius, who narrowly dodged them until Mal attempted to create a magical shield that got destroyed by yet another blast. Evie tried using the reflective light of her mirror to blind Amira, but somebody else came in and whacked the mirror out of Evie's hands. Evie looked and saw a green venom dressed princess with long locks of dark brown hair smirking at her as she held a golden scepter like a baseball bat.

"Nice to meet my not-so-fairest clone!" Ethelinda mocked. "Princess Ethelinda, if you please. It's a pleasure to defeat you!"

"Not on my watch!" Ben grabbed a nearby sword and made a run for his 'cousin' until another blade blocked his path and he found himself dueling Zeniko Zemo. While the Bartok sisters led the real Principal Melchior away, Haya Yu and Jay tried to interfere, only to get tackled down by Randy Boggs, the monstrous daughter of Randall Boggs, as she kept turning invisible to sneak around and bruise them.

Marius and his parents tried flying back at Penna, only to be blocked by a new barrier that isolated only Voldemort and Penna. "BOSS!" Jessie and Minuit desperately hammered on the barrier's walls until Feige and Dårlig saw a hooded figure floating above the barrier and controlling the barrier. Many St Luther students were horrified when they saw who was leaving Penna De Mort to a certain doom with her father.

"C...Corbeau?" Ruby choked as she saw her ex-boyfriend aid Voldemort.

"You're betraying us?" Othello Traviesa shouted as he was busy helping Randolph Wrecker break holes in the walls in order to evacuate the trapped guests. Corbeau said nothing and kept floating in midair while Lord Voldemort's hand grabbed Penna's neck and held her up in the air in a choking motion. And if that wasn't enough, he was still holding onto her Horcruxes one at a time in his hands.

"P...Please..." Penna whimpered.

" **You're useless to me** ," Voldemort said flatly.

"P...Please..." Like a whimpering runt in a litter of puppies, Penna hopelessly begged for mercy from the one creature in the world incapable of such virtue. While the others were either fighting each other or trying to break their way through the barrier that the traitor summoned, Voldemort's fist clenched upon Penna's remaining Horcruxes even harder, causing Penna to scream even more.

 **CRUSH!**

The speakers made the breaking sound all over the Global Stadium. Like hypnosis, everyone stopped and lost their eyes in the shower of shards that flew in the air and disintegrated in the air like a stained glass turning into ashes during a church fire. In one single crush, Voldemort destroyed his daughter's Horcruxes into oblivion. In one single crush, dozens of blue light balls exploded their way out of the screaming Penna's mouth and turned into nothingness. In one single crush, Penna changed drastically. The demonic witch in suffering that was choking in her father's grasp was quickly morphing into a smaller, frailer Caucasian human with insanely messy hair (and for some reason soaked) and ragged, ripped versions of her clothes, no shoes included. Black circles indicating a lack on sleep replaced the blue marks she had over her eyes.

" **YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?** " Voldemort tossed Penna onto the ground. She breathed too quickly, like a fish out of water.

"What...what's happening to her?" Marius began to panic as he watched Voldemort starting to physically beat Penna. The Dark Lord punched and kicked his child in areas that horrified everyone. "Why did he change her back into her human self?"

"By destroying all her Horcruxes, the Kraken Acupuncture Needles went nuts and exploded!" Feige exclaimed. "Without them, she's returning to the way she was before he even started forcing them into her?"

"He's turning her into an infant?" Marius was horrified.

"No, but it's close! He's turned her as helpless as she was when she was barely a few days old!"

" **And how the mighty have fallen! ETHELINDA!** "

Ethelinda pushed Evie out of the way and jumped on her scepter, surfing her way through the stadium. Corbeau created a small hole in the barrier to let her sink her way through. She curtsied before the Dark Lord. The latter pointed down at Penna, who helplessly laid on her stomach. " **She's pathetically weak. Crush her neck where the blood flows towards her lungs and heart, and I swear by the River Styx, you'll have any ruined kingdom to rule from my upcoming war spoils!** "

"Is he insane?" Beast exclaimed. "The main reason Ethelinda was arrested was because she tried to conquer twelve kingdoms by poisoning the twelve monarchs!"

"Well it's not like he's gonna keep his promise!" Griselda said. "As if he were that idiotic!"

"He's going to do it." Minuit said. "If there's a trait we know he and Penna share, it's that they always keep their oaths when they swear on the River Styx."

"Piece of cake." Ethelinda swung her scepter in a clockwise manner. The golden orb at the end of it morphed into a golden sphere with silver spikes all over it. A quarter of the spiked mace popped open and some sort of green viper with a red beaded necklace slithered her way out. " _Seriously, girl! You got to warn when you start swinging, I live in your scepter!_ " The snake snapped like a sassy black woman stereotypically depicted in movies.

"Sorry, Estelle." Ethelinda shrugged. "Say, I'm gonna crush De Mort's neck. Wanna spike my scepter with some venom? You know, for dramatic effect?"

" _Ooh, great idea!_ " Estelle opened her mouth over one of the spikes. A single drop of venom dropped from each of her upper fangs and hit the spiked mace. It turned into a vicious venom green color while Estelle slithered to rest on Ethelinda's shoulder. " _Hey, make sure you pull her hair out of the way! I want to make a rug out of it_?"

" **Is Estelle always this spoiled?** " Voldemort asked Ethelinda while the Muggle princess kneeled over and pushed Penna's hair out of the way between the poisoned spiked mace and her neck.

"PENNA!" Marius banged over the barrier.

"Crush her skull!" Randy Boggs shouted viciously.

"Intoxicate her lungs!" Zeniko Zemo added.

"Mount her head on a wall!" Amira said.

"Will you just kill her already?" Corbeau asked quietly.

"I still can't believe you'd betray us...for them?" Dusk Shimmer said from near the bleachers. "What could they possibly offer you that's not life?"

" **Roth Logan is right, we're wasting time!** " Voldemort shouted with impatience. Marius felt something move underneath the floor he was standing on, as if a giant mole was digging its way underneath the barrier. " **Finish her already!** "

The ground exploded. With the rubble flying everywhere, Ethelinda and Corbeau got distracted, causing them to ditch both Penna and the barrier. Marius took his chance and quickly flew to catch Penna and fly her out of the way. She groaned in pain as he lifted her in his arms.

A creature broke its way out of the Earth. No, not a creature, but _two_ creatures, a basilisk and some sort of white albino dinosaur.

" **IMPOSSIBLE!** " Voldemort exclaimed.

"Bloodyle! Indimia!" Jessie cried happily. She shoved Voldemort out of the way, much to his ego's shock, and ran to hug the giant dinosaur's head. The giant creature spread its giant tongue over her in one giant affectionate lick. Meanwhile, the basilisk slithered around Marius and Penna, shielding them in her protective coils and hissed viciously at Voldemort.

"Stand back!" Zeniko held up his sword at basilisk, threatening to pierce her with it. The beast just rolled her eyes and flicked her tail at him, sending him flying in the bleachers.

More came out of their entrance: three human teenagers and a green-skinned horned demon with a blue cloak shielded him. All of them wore ragged clothing, their skins had hints of burns and bleeding scars, and looked angrily at Voldemort, moaning complaints like zombies.

" **This is actually...disturbing**." The sight of them disgusted even Voldemort.

"Are those..." Dårlig was blinking in shock.

"Brittany, Roedor, and Bayen coming out of the ground like zombies?" Feige offered. "Yeah, I'll go with that."

"BACKSTABBER!" Bayen howled at Voldemort.

"JACKASS!" Roedor squealed.

"YOU LEFT US TO ROT IN TARTARUS!" Brittany screamed. "AFTER YEARS OF LOYALTY TO YOU AS DEATH EATERS, THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US? YOUR OWN DAUGHTER WAS A BETTER EMPLOYER THAN YOU!"

" **RETREAT! Scylla!** " Voldemort shouted.

"Scylla?" Ben frowned. Suddenly the air agitated and another Raft VK appeared. Some sort of pale-girl with ghostly blue hair and eye-motif clothing floated in the air. Her eyes were purely blanked out, but the most disturbing part was that her hair actually looked and moved like jellyfish tentacles. Three of her 'tentacles' were coiled around a body that dangled in semi-conscious moaning.

"Lonnie!" Ruby shouted.

"Your beau's next!" Randy Boggs tackled Ruby to the ground preventing her from doing anything while Scylla floated down and coiled three other tentacles around Martin. He squirmed to get off her grasp. "Release me! AAAAAAAHHH!" The tentacles ensnaring him glowed with blue electricity, stunning him until he fell in a coma similar to Lonnie's.

"My son!" Monkey Fist gasped.

" **Not for long**..." Voldemort snickered and snapped his fingers. A cloud of grey slithering smoke covered him, his loyalists, and his two preys. After two seconds, it disappeared, leaving only the remains of the battle. Only his voice echoed throughout the Global Stadium. " **Keep ticking those hours, Penelope, because it's only a matter of time before you fade from existence. There's no place left for you in this world.** "

 _Hours later, at the hospital_

Injured victims from the attack were being taken cared off at the hospital. Lonnie's parents were with Bruce Wayne in the waiting room, trying desperately to console Monkey Fist, who kept wailing hysterically about the Dark Lord kidnapping his son. Meanwhile, the others were watching anxiously as doctors, Bloodyle, and the green hooded demon, placed the now drugged to sleep Penna on a bed and were working on how to reinforce her energy.

Marius looked the most miserable. "I never should have removed those Kraken Needles," he said. His mother put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

" **Eh. Stick around for a century and you'll get the hang of it** ," Indimia shrugged. She and Bloodyle had morphed into their humanoid selves and got a fresh robe and her injuries bandages like the rest of Penna's returned gang. " **After Bloodyle and Gehörnt...** "

"Gehörnt?" Jessie frowned.

" **The green-skinned demon. He's Gehörnt King, the son of the Horned King. We met him in Tartarus. Any who, Bloodyle and Gehörnt are working on a demonic phoenix tears potion that will cure her bad blood loss and lack of energy. It might take her two days to recover, which should give us some time to figure out a strategy now that the Dark Lord is back**."

"I can imagine why he'd want Lonnie, but why my boyfriend?" Ruby asked. "I mean, it's already bad enough that my _ex_ is on the bad side, but as far as to help Voldemort kidnap my boyfriend...What on earth does Penna want from Martin?"

"You'll have to ask Bloodyle and Gehörnt," Brittany said as she hacked a vending machine with her wand out of impatience until a cup of steaming cappuccino popped out. "He only talks about Voldemort specifically to Bloodyle. Apparently, he and his father committed suicide the moment Voldemort took over the Raft and they realized what he was after and why he didn't stay in the Limbo."

"The Limbo?" Queen Marianne asked.

"A parallel blank universe between life and death," Minuit said. "Only people who get their Horcruxes destroyed get stuck there for cheating death. Penna's only reason for fearing to spend her afterlife in the Limbo would be to be eternally stuck in their with her father if they were both dead."

"And the Horned King specializes in keeping a census of the Limbo's prisoners. After he and Gehörnt committed suicide, while the Horned King was going to the Limbo for his crimes concerning the Black Cauldron, he told his son to go warn us in Tartarus..." Brittany explained.

"And at such timing!" Bayen muttered. "The evil deities down there were amusing themselves into playing Hades' poker to determine which of us mortals became their slaves!"

"Did they make you scrub their toilets?" Ruby snickered. "I definetly remember Hades' burning your pants for lying about Penna!"

"Shut up!" Bayen snapped.

"You mean _he's_ the guy?" Marius wanted to vomit. The half-shaven boy with skin glued on his bones, sharp nails, and patched ragged clothes was Bayen Lestrange, the son of Bellatrix Lestrange, and Penna's annoying 'most devoted servant' among the Death Eater kids? Frankly, he'd get why Penna had a crush on a cute, pureblood like Mandire, but he couldn't imagine Penna dealing with this annoying pest for at least a decade.

Bayen gave the prince a mutual glare of distaste. It was evident that friendship between those two was hopeless.

"So how did you escape the poker game?" Ruby asked Brittany.

"Gehörnt came and was allowed to play for our lives as a half-demon. He narrowly managed to win us and helped us sneak out of that Underworld prison."

"What about the pink freak? You know...what was his name?"

"Drystan Troy." Brittany, Bayen, Roedor, and even Indimia lowered their eyebrows and mouths into sincere mourning.

"Drystan tried to cheat his way out of the poker game," Roedor said. "When Loki got onto him, D.T tried to distract him by using his mother's classic technique of using a blood quill..."

Marius' eyes widened. "One of Penna's Horcruxes was a red feathered quill..."

"Yep. That was a blood quill. The way it works is that the quill scars your hand with any written punishment," Brittany said. "When our mistress was a child, Voldemort forced her to use a blood quill to write 'I must not disobey the Dark Lord' until her hand was so scarred that she couldn't write any further. He stopped when she was eleven and got that registered in her head after he forced her to turn her blood quill into a Horcrux."

"And Drystan Troy's mother specialized in punishing children by having them write with blood quills." Dårlig shook his head. "I bet the evil gods didn't like being tested by a mortal wizard's blood quill."

"He got disintegrated on the spot." Bayen sighed. "I'm going to miss that annoying pureblood."

"So then what happened next? How did you guys escape from Tartarus? Jessie asked.

"We climbed."

"Seriously?" Marius scoffed. "You climbed all the way up to the surface of the Earth?"

"Easy for you to say!" Bayen wiggled his bandaged hands at Marius. " _You_ can fly! _We_ had to use our bare hands to climb what seemed to be an endless underground mountain with only our sweat as water and our shedding skins as bread!"

" **We climbed until we reached the Fae Realm camp** ," Indimia continued. " **Two goblins told us that you all went to the Global Stadium, so we dug our way through until we reached the sewage system and used the pipes to reach the stadium.** " She sighed. " **I guess we failed. Voldemort has most of what he needs.** "

"We can't give up yet." Marius clenched his fists and started pacing. "We have at least two days to come up with a strategy on how we can counter Voldemort and his loyalists..."

"Are you mad?" Roedor cried out loud. "You want to fight off the most lethal villain in the universe?"

"Add in his army of enslaved villains, the sea monster under the Raft..." Bayen proceeded to make a list until Marius cut him off.

"Look, it's great that you came to warn us and all, but if you're just going to stand here and keep saying everything's impossible, then go back to Tartarus!" Marius snapped. "It's my fault if Penna was nearly killed by Voldemort, and only she knows how to personally kill him. I don't want to finish him off myself, but I want to ensure that his intended reign of terror does not come to pass. Innocent lives will be destroyed, many will be brainwashed into slaves, and Penna's days will be forgotten like dust. I have to fix things, but I'd be an idiot to do it myself!"

Everyone, including passing doctors, stared at him blankly and without response. Marius breathed quickly, deeply hoping that his speech was not in vain.

" _Good to see that Penna actually fell for someone with brains_."

They all turned. Bloodyle had stepped out of Penna's room. Her golden eyes were fixed on Marius, who stared right back at her. Normally, her look would kill, but right now she wouldn't kill unless he wasn't serious. " _It may have been stupid of you, but you had enough brains to remove as much of my sister's needles to prevent any possession by her father, so if you can do something as equally smart and stupid as to fight against Voldemort, you have this basilisk's support._ "

"I agree with Bloodyle." Ruby nodded. "I'm already growing more afraid as to what they might be doing to Martin at this moment."


	34. Hateful Plans

Chapter 34: Hateful Plans

Lonnie wished she'd die right away.

She didn't remember anything ever since the blue tentacle chick girl electrocuted her. The moment coldness hit her skin and she recognized a familiar despicable hand's touch, she woke up and saw that she was in a bad situation worse than death.

She fell into Voldemort's clutches once again.

He was far more cruel this time. In his own twisted way of saying he was glad to repossess his dark pussy, he let his new Raft minions clothe Lonnie into one of the local strip dancer outfits while she was unconscious. It was a rather disturbing dancing outfit for her taste. An extremely thin string bathing suit that could only cover her nipples and purest area, leaving her as bare and naked as an infant against the awfully humid, cold temperature of the place she was now stuck in, with villains who were fine for their own reasons to help Voldemort into making Lonnie the Death Eater Queen. Their only shade of morality was how they slightly looked uncomfortable as Voldemort kept holding Lonnie close to him. She squirmed in disgust whenever she felt his hand slide beneath the fabric and scratch her purest area, as if to remind her to behave.

" _The machine is prepared_." They were in Mia Zola's lab, a twisted demonical room of science and corrupted version of a clinic room. Voldemort, the ZAM-Trio, any of the Raft VKs that seemed to have taken the role of generals, and Lonnie were gathered in the dark blue lit lab. Mia snapped her fingers. Some villains that Lonnie couldn't recognize because of their HAZMAT shielding uniforms pulled down a curtain, revealing the most terrifying machine that Lonnie had ever seen before. It consisted of a dark green operating table with silver chains; standing just at the end of the operating table was a grey scanner just like those in hospitals, big enough for the operating table to slide through and meet an automated syringe inside it. Connected to the scanner were a tank, complex steaming plumbing, and a conveyer belt with human sized pitchers waiting to be poured over by a drain before being dragged to the end of the belt, which met with a field of empty glass pods connected by wires. " _Behold...the VOLDEPROLIFERATOR 300!_ " Somewhere, one of the HAZMAT employees played a drumroll.

"OK, I'll bite. What does it do?" Ethelinda asked.

" _I'll explain_." Mia bowed to Voldemort, who squeezed Lonnie's butt as to tell her to pay attention while Mia showed to everyone a large blueprint of the machine. " _Our great master plans to use Mulan's daughter to help him generate mass amounts of Horcrux-bound offspring to decrease his current essence diet. The sole problem is that he doesn't have all the time in the world, so after multiple research, some stolen chemicals, and advice from Amira, I have managed to create a machine that will speed up everything_."

"You're gonna put me in THAT? OUCH!" Lonnie exclaimed, first out of shock and then out of pain when Voldemort pinched under her fabric to remind her to stay put and shut up.

" _Yep. Bring over the mannequin_." Two HAZMAT employees brought over a plastic blue dummy and held it up by the arms. " _OK, the dummy represents you. Because of complex math that others don't want to hear, the machine will only be able to function on you for nine hours per day. So, the night before you get placed on the machine, you get injected by a holding serum that will hold all the ovaries and sperm together and untouched after you and Voldemort have sex._ " The employees brought the dummy on the operating table, which instantly chained the dummy's wrists and legs' in the missionary pose before being pushed by an inch towards the scanner. " _Once strapped and inside the scanner, you will have a point laser syringe extract a sperm and ovary one at a time. They will each be analyzed to determine how to pair up those seeds based on healthy statuses, be fertilized into fetuses that will come out of the drain and be stored in those pods that will speed up their lifetimes until the next day._ "

"And based on another boring equation, your very painful operation should be able to create 540 fetuses in one day," Amira added.

"EXCUSE ME?" Voldemort pinched Lonnie again.

"I must say that I can't lie...540 children does seem rather impossible," Zeniko somewhat admitted. "How on earth is the master supposed to keep such an amount around until they are of age to be turned into Horcruxes?"

" _The pods we built will speed up their lifespans overnight. By the time Mulan's daughter get replaced in the machine the next day, the Dark Lord can take the opportunity to turn his aged offspring into Horcruxes_." Mia wrinkled her nose. " _Though I highly worry that, because of the machine's delicate state, the offspring might only be handle one Horcrux each._ "

" **Why so?"** Voldemort asked.

"Mia used vibranium to ensure that nothing could physically destroy the VOLDEPROLIFERATOR 300," Amira explained. "As you can remember, the previous 299 dealt with some...non-evolving issues of heat. That's why, even though we can use the machine for nine hours in one day, it still needs a few breaks to cool down, otherwise the vibranium will overheat and explode."

"Well that explains the leaks." Ethelinda pointed a finger at the pipes that hung over the ceiling. Many had straps of tape over them to conceal the water and keep it from falling onto them. Still, it didn't help that there were also cracks on the grey painted wall. "It's bad enough that this lab had to be in the Third Sector. One more explosion, especially from that machine, and we'll all drown!"

" **We'll move the machine out of the Raft once we've won** ," Voldemort said. He pulled onto the two straps on Lonnie's back as if they were dog leashes and started giving out more orders. " **Zeniko, go scout the perimeters of the First Sector. Make sure that none of them are doing any business. Amira, go check on Fiske.** "

Lonnie froze. Fiske? Did Voldemort also kidnap him?

" **Scylla, ensure the tool is ready for tonight. Mia, get the machine ready for tomorrow. And Ethelinda, remind me again where the Young Clan's cell was**?"

"Down the West corridor." Ethelinda said.

Voldemort had them disperse while he dragged Lonnie with him. "What have you done with Martin?" she demanded as they went through a corridor full of metal walls with hints of bricks and open barricaded doors that showed some of the most insane cells that Lonnie had ever seen. If she remembered well, this was the area of the Raft where the government trapped the most dangerous villains. As they passed the uniquely conceived jails, she began to imagine what it must have been like for the former residents, being imprisoned in those cells specifically designed for each of them.

After minutes of walking, Voldemort finally led her inside one of the cells. She blinked in confusion at first: it looked like a very ordinary bricked room. No light came from anywhere other than the open door, but even with that, she couldn't tell what the main imprisonment was.

He brought her to the center of the room. The ground shook and something rose up from the floor. It was some sort of red bricked, three layered Aztec pyramid. "What the...HEY!"

Voldemort had ripped of the fabric on her, leaving her completely naked. He pushed her in the pyramid. The moment she got pushed in there, the bottom two layers closed on her right above her butt and collarbone areas. Before she could protest, Voldemort tossed the remains of her outfit over her mouth, gagging her.

" **Don't miss me too much, my dark pussy** ," he told her as the top of the pyramid closed on her, leaving her stuck in the dark with bricked layers dividing her body in half. With all of this paralyzing her and the gag preventing her from shouting for help. Lonnie couldn't do anything other than whimper in fear when she felt something wet bite her left bosom. " **I'll see you after I deal with Fiske**."

 _Ancestors help me_ , Lonnie begged. _I don't want to imagine what he wants to do with Martin._

_Minutes later, in another cell_

Martin groaned in pain as his eyes finally decided to open. His sides were still sore from the Tri-Relay Race and his skin still itched from being electrocuted. After more than five minutes, he barely managed to sit upstraight. Apparently gravity and the multiple layers of bed sheets covering him did not want him to get off the bed in any means necessary.

"Sleepy simian done with his little nap?" A voice teased.

Martin's face turned into a sour expression when his face turned to the left and saw Amira Fattura sitting on the bed. As the light of the nightstand's green lava lamp cleared things up, Martin also got a better look at the décor: black Victorian bed, green iris patterned wallpapers that matched the green on the sorceress' outfit, green geyser shaped chairs resting by the burning fireplace, and chains hanging from the unseen ceiling like dark chandeliers...

"I see you've personalized your cell once you got liberated," he snorted.

"That's right. Only for the best." She brushed the tip of her index on his lower lip, outlining the skin of it. Martin failed to bite her finger in spite. Even though Zeniko Zemo was his personal nemesis among the ZAM-Trio, Amira was the one he despised the most. She was like the Asgardian sorceress version of Amelia Hall, completely gushing over him on the day they first met. The only difference was that whenever there was a chase between him and that group, Amira would purposely stay behind to 'keep searching' for him while she'd actually tie Martin's wrists to any post in an abandoned area and try to have her way with him.

Somehow, he had the world record for having creepy stalkers.

"Don't lay another finger on me," he warned.

"Or what? My furniture is enchanted. It is spelled to ensnare through central gravity any foe. Only the Dark Lord and I can release the victims." She stopped stroking his lip.

"Speaking of the Devil, why do you even work for him?" Martin questioned. "Even with Zemo, you detest following orders. That is, unless others follow _your_ orders." His eyes widened and his voice turned sour. " _Wait a minute._ " He stared at Amira. " _You_ were the one who hypnotized me with Tiger Breath, didn't you?"

Amira sat upstraight next to him. "Consider yourself lucky that I'm the one who brainwashed you," she said sternly. "If I had let my master have it his way, you'd be traumatized for life to the point where you'd commit suicide...And of course, he already needs you alive, but it's not like you'll have your will anymore."

Martin froze. "What..."

" **I see he's awake**."

Martin tried as best as he could to see from where the voice came from. Voldemort had just come in from the door of the cell, making him look like a dark demon walking his way through a green Hell. Amira got up and bowed to the Dark Lord. "He's still healthy," she told the evil wizard.

" **Excellent**." Voldemort waved his hand. " **Leave us. I need to have a word with him**."

Martin didn't want to imagine what Voldemort could possibly want to discuss with him. If this villain was already willing to rape via magic a helpless girl into giving him a lifetime supply of Horcruxes, he couldn't imagine what he'd want from him. Probably his Mystical Monkey Power.

"Shall I go ensure that Fa Li doesn't escape? Or better yet, that she's uncomfortable?" Amira asked.

" **No physical harming, Amira. I made it clear to you and the others. Until the end of the day, they shouldn't be harmed**." It was so weird seeing Voldemort act like a parent chiding a child for misbehaving.

"At least I can harm her brain?" Amira pouted. "A few hallucinating scars? I mean, it's not like we care for her personality."

Voldemort pondered. " **I assume that a least one hour of mind torture won't kill us all. Have fun.** "

"Thank you!" Amira turned into a green raven and flew off, leaving Martin stuck with the bad man.

" **It's always others who get the best children!** " Voldemort complained. " **My own brat was a whimpering coward since her birth while Amira was a naturally born sadist!** " He mumbled something in Parseltongue and snapped his fingers. A black dining table with silver snake plates full of luscious food and silver cups filled to the top by sangria appeared by the fireplace. The bed sheets that buried Martin dissolved into thin air. He was happy to be able to properly move until he looked down and restrained himself from screaming. He didn't know when they did it, but apparently his captors had taken the liberty of getting rid of his Tri-Relay race martial arts uniform and replaced it with a twisted version of his trademark red-and-black martial arts uniform. The black was much darker, like the color they used for hearses, the red had been replaced by a dark green and his red Chinese characters for 'monkey' had been replaced by the dark green Chinese characters for 'snake'. Martin hated it, not only because he was being forced to wear it, but because green was his least favorite color and snakes were known predators for monkeys.

" **Sit...please**." Voldemort motioned to the nearest chair.

"Or what? You'll throw a Cruciatus on me?" Martin scoffed.

" **No, but I can imagine you'd be torturing yourself if I decided to throw such a spell or worse at...I don't know...** " Voldemort mused.

Martin stiffened. Voldemort was suggesting killing his loved ones if he didn't obey. _Yeah, he's got blackmailing planned._ With only a mumble in his teeth, Martin walked towards the chair and slowly sat on it. He looked at the old man, who smirked viciously at him.

"What could you possibly want from me?" the boy demanded. "If you're after my Mystical Monkey Power, keep dreaming!"

Voldemort snorted as he took one of the sangria cups and took a sip out of it. " **I'm not interested in the power that the boy hosts. No, I'm interested in the** _ **boy**_ **who hosts the power.** "

Martin felt himself stiffening even more in his chair. Voldemort was after _him,_ not his power? "Well, that's a first."

" **I can imagine your confusion. Why wouldn't a powerful wizard like me not be interested in seeking the claim of a power like yours? Because he already has so much power. I only seek to further my immortality.** "

"So you want to consume my essence?" Martin assumed. "If I recall, you were never able to get a hold of my mark of villainy through your daughter."

" **I'm not interested in your essence. However...** " His spare hand pressed his fingers onto Martin's torso. The latter could feel his skin covered by his mark of villainy sending him a burning feeling of pain. " **I do plan on switching your mark of villainy.** " He let go of Martin, causing the boy to pant frantically.

"S...S...Switching my mark?" Martin gagged.

" **Yes. You see, during my old days of terror, while I had many Death Eaters act as my generals, only Penna De Mort acted as the Ultimate Army Leader because of how I turned her into a living, powerful killing machine that both my enemies and followers feared. But now because of her dramatic changes, she's useless to me.** " He threw his still full cup in the fireplace and grabbed Martin in both arms. Another burning pain, only doubled, came along. " **I have seen you evolve more than other villains have! You possess among all Mystical Monkey Power, remains of the Yono power, parts of Discord's, and inherited Monkey Witchcraft! Villains respect you, your peers envy you, heroes still fear you, women pathetically grovel before you...And out of all the worthless villainous descendants, you're the only one who's the least interested in turning good! You strive for ambition and power, you dislike dealing with pests...YOU are exactly what I need!** "

He tightened his grip on Martin. " **YOU are the one chosen to be the Ultimate Army Leader! You are the one who will lead my army and demolish the heroes! YOU...** " His mouth pursed up with twisted pleasure. " **You will be the son I was supposed to have other than Penna.** "

"You're insane!" Martin kicked Voldemort out of the way and jumped off the chair, hoping to make a run for the door. Unfortunately, Voldemort was faster and threw a green shard of light that coiled around Martin, trapping his body in green rope and sending him on the ground. Martin struggled with no luck to get off his bounds while Voldemort evilly walked towards him.

 **Because you think you have a choice**?" He laughed. " **After some research during my time as Principal Melchior, I found out that I should have used magic more ancient than dark gypsy magic to extract your mark of villainy. I discovered an artifact with magic similar to your Mystical Monkey Power called the Handed Dagger of Young. It can remove the mark of villainy of any very powerful villain, but it will kill the owner unless the mark returns to its master, so using my magic and assistance from Amira and Scylla, I have created two new marks of villainy made of pure dark magic, hearts of stone, and pure killing evil.** "

"T...Two?"

" **Yes, I also intend on using it on Fa Li Lonnie. By the end of the day, I will stab both of you with the Handed Dagger of Young to rip out your marks and replace them with the new ones. You will be turned into my loyal servants who seek only to serve me and kill my enemies. No love or will shall be in your souls. You will spend the rest of your lives with me, mindlessly leading my army and reproducing Horcruxes for me. Thus, my power and immortality shall remain!** "

"Just how insane are you?" Martin suddenly felt his energy weakening. "Mere humans like me and Lonnie won't be able to withstand such a use of magic in ourselves!"

Voldemort snickered before Martin's eyes finally gave in. " **Well it's a good thing I know more about you than you know of me...** "

 _Meanwhile, back in Auradon_

The UN had a facility for gatherings in case of global crisis. Frankly, it had hardly been used in the last twenty years, so it was still dusty when a majority of the world leaders, generals, Ben, the Fae Realm monarchs, and designated VKs came along to organize a meeting. And because of the crisis level, they had to exceptionally transfer the entire Villainous Council and some Hun elite soldiers from the Isle as well.

Naturally, the VKs from the Raft had been forced into the meeting to bring their knowledge of their 'home'. Well, it was just N Tina, Leona, and Dwight. Vincent and Bexley decided to remain with Augusta back at the hospital (turns out that the Augusta Gloop from the Raft and the Augusta Gloop from the Isle were twin cousins, don't ask) and apparently Voldemort decided that only Aaron Duncan and Vannabella Rídegel were worth kidnapping back to their home, which is why when the guards went to fetch the Raft VKs, the station they were temporarily locked in was in quite the rubble state.

"You guys are insane to want to attack the Raft," Nicky Fury said while she presented a map of the world through 3D projection, with a red area covering the ocean between Oceania and Alaska. "Not only is it in the middle of the ocean _underwater,_ but it's in a highly chaotic weather state, tropical and tundra winds clashing with boiling hot and icy cold waters. Unless the all-weather submarines are used to go to the Raft..."

"You can cross off using the submarines." N Tina cut her off. "Mia Zola's hoarding them all. Half got destroyed and she's using them for her toys."

"How many are left?" Ben rubbed his chin in fear.

"Three." N Tina gave the numbers with her fingers. "Besides, even with submarines, we still got the sea monster problem..."

"Is it Kalai?" Dusk spoke up. "Paena said she suspected the sea monster to be her after Aaron clued her with the 'shiny'."

"What kind of monster is Kalai?" Marius asked, getting impatient as this debate was getting nowhere from his perspective. To answer his question, N Tina threw him a scroll. He quickly caught it in his hands and saw an odd illustration of what he deduced as a girl with clothes ragged as seaweeds and crab legs the size of her human legs hanging from her back. "You're kidding."

"I wish." N Tina shook her head. Dwight and Leona did the same. "Kalai Tamatoa is the daughter of the sea crab monster Tamatoa, the same monster who fought Paena's father Maui. Not much was known of her species until the day came when she was captured. The problem was that she was too humongous. No magic could shrink her and she was way too big in size for the Isle itself."

"My dad figured that there were other uses for Kalai. Like what the gods did to Atlas, the Raft's weight was put on Kalai," Nicky continued. "Chains hold her and the Raft down to the ocean bottom with the same magic and science used for the Isle's barrier."

"I bet it's only a matter of time before Voldemort decides to unleash her." Leona shivered. "Standing up, she's as tall as the kingdom."

"Sure, he'll let her eat...anyone...who gets in the way..." Dwight found himself losing his voice.

"THIS ISN'T HELPING!" Marius pounded his fist on the table. "We need to figure out the steps for destroying Voldemort!"

" _And that part's already a pickle, since only Penna can destroy Voldemort_." Everyone looked at Bloodyle, who crossed her arms and moved her tail to scratch her head in an odd fashion.

"Why only De Mort?" Shan Yu asked. "I'm sure most of us are highly capable of facing the Dark Lord."

" _I don't question your bravery, but there's a good reason why Penna can't commit suicide or die just yet._ "

"Of course!" Marius slapped himself on the forehead. "She's her father's backup Horcrux!"

" _And he's hers,_ " Bloodyle added.

"Wait, so you're saying that they're each other's backup Horcruxes?" Mal said. "How is that possible?"

" _I was aware that Voldemort had no intention of keeping Penna much longer once he had control of all her Horcruxes and would dispose of her in the future. So after Penna killed Mandire Sullivan and obtained her last Horcrux, she tried to implant it in the last being she cherished..._ "

" _You_." Minuit guessed bitterly.

" _Yes. But while the De Mort clan was fast asleep, I used a Time-turner to freeze time while I gave Voldemort an enchanted scar at the back of his neck to transfer Penna's soul part into him._ " She grimaced.

"No wonder Voldemort impaled you back in January!" Dårlig exclaimed. "He must have figured that you messed with him, so he tried to punish you for it!"

"So, in other words, as long as the Dark Lord and the Princess of Evil are still the other's backup...they can't kill each other unless they kill each other as well." Bayen bit his lips and whipped off the blood with his tongue, acting as if it were a sangria drink.

"We can't just let them fight each other!" Audrey protested.

"Well it's not like it would be a fair fight," Brittany pointed out. "The boss needs the powers she had back when she was pure evil. Otherwise, Voldemort will have no problem crushing her cowardly human self, and with his future supply of Horcruxes, I bet he'd have no problem disposing of a spare!"

A scratching noise was heard. Haya Yu had scratched the table twice with her pocketknife, a gig for her to do whenever she planned on doing a risky idea. She got off her chair and walked over to where her father sat and pulled some sort of wooden sculpture half the size of her arm. "Haya, don't!" Shan Yu grabbed her wrist.

"Dad, let me go..." Haya demanded.

"Hey, check it!" N Tina geeked at the sight of the idol to Dwight and Leona. "They've got an idol of Chelsey Young!"

"THEY'VE GOT AN IDOL OF CHELSEY YOUNG?" Dwight and Leona screamed and tried to make a run for it. Two guards caught them and stopped them in their tracks.

"Chelsey Young? You don't mean...Chase Young's daughter?" Radiance Nightmare gasped. "Artemis and I have heard of her and her father!"

"You mean the guy who could turn into a lizard?" Jay said. "My dad's one of his fans."

"Who are they?" Marius asked.

"Chase Young and his daughter Chelsey are ancient half-Mongolian warriors blessed with immortality," Shan Yu said. "They're strong, powerful, and dangerously cunning. My people believe them to be the founders of the Hun dynasties and have venerated them for generations, Hun legends have also started coming, claiming that Chase Young himself is the ancestor of all the khans in our family."

"No way!" Jay looked at Haya. "Your ancestor is Chase Young?"

"The Youngs are nothing but trouble, especially Chelsey!" Dwight said. "They're evil, manipulative, dangerous masters of twisting events, and tricksters! We should know, they were Third Sector prisoners in the Raft!"

"They were locked up in a red bricked cell while physically trapped in three-layered red bricked pyramids that paralyzed them limb by limb!" Leona joined. "And yet they still kept trying to lure others into freeing them to the point that they had to be darted just so that food could be dunked in their mouths!"

" _In that case, consider it a miracle that they're on the side of SAP and not with Voldemort_." Gehörnt turned to Haya. " _Still, they do not lie. Your presumed ancestors are as slippery as legless lizards. However, I do agree with you that seeking advice from Chelsey is...not too bad of an idea._ "

"I'm afraid Gehörnt is partially right." Radiance pinched her nose. "Summoning Chelsey Young and require her wisdom earned through years of immortality..."

"What's the downside?" Marius asked in worry.

" _I must admit that during the last two decades, the Young Clan and a majority of the universe's worst sorcerers, each with a personal rooted hatred for Voldemort's daughter, have joined up together to form the Sorcerers Against Penna, a society of nothing but cruel witches and wizards devoted to bring Penna De Mort down._ "

"The SAP," Marius guessed grimly.

"Yeah." Leona nodded grimly. "I'm lucky my mom has no bad ties with De Mort, but the SAP leader? _GOD_ , that witch hates De Mort more than the Grand High Witch hates children!"

" _My father claimed that she promised the Young Clan endless glory as they enjoyed tormenting their victims._ " The son of the Horned King snorted. " _True, Chase Young might have mostly joined because of his crush for the SAP leader, but even he can't break the powerful vows of marriage she's bond to._ "

"I don't care if we have to deal with the SAP or not!" Haya yanked her wrist away from her father and held up the idol. "I did nothing the first time Voldemort had Lonnie in his clutches, I won't repeat it!"

"Haya, NO!" Shan Yu exclaimed.

"Heylin Summoning! Chelsey Young, **APPEAR AND ADVISE**!"

Red smoke appeared and twisted all around the room. Papers were being blown away and glass windows were exploding. Some ducked under the tables as the red smoke gathered around the idol, forming a red vortex around it. Shan Yu grabbed his daughter by the waist and pulled her away from the vortex. Haya dropped the idol in the process and the vortex increased as the idol landed on the floor. Then, the vortex calmed down and slowly dissolved...

"Did it work?" Ben asked cautiously. As if to answer his question, the red smoke drained itself away right into the tip of a blue cigarette holder.

For an immortal warrior, Chelsey Young looked very much like an eighteen-year-old girl. She could have easily been mistaken as Haya's older sister, but she oddly lacked so many of the Hun's rustic apparel. Her long raven hair and few bangs were elegantly brushed and braided on the side, yet they still moved as swiftly as a lizard's tail. She had beige and red shoulder plates and war cuff bracelets that went well with her black dress and red belt, but her skirt had beige ruffles with large blue beads with dark pupils dangling on them, the sleeves, the bracelets, and the belt's clasp, it was as if she was a walking jellyfish swinging around her blue poisoned stings. Her oddly pale Caucasian skin stood out, her nails were clean, her auburn red pumps and thigh beads polished, and her orange reptilian eyes glaring impatiently while she held the cigarette holder to her lips.

Once they saw their venerated warrior before them, every Hun with no exception bowed before her.

"Speak," she told them coldly. She pulled her cigarette holder away and exhaled deeply. Her nostrils spit out tobacco smoke that morphed into smoke lizards making a run for their lives.

"Honorable mistress of evil, we humbly seek your advice," Haya said. Chelsey barely looked at Haya, yet her expression seemed to darken as she continued to smoke.

"Great, I just got summoned by my disgraced mortal _family_." Chelsey waved her cigarette holder at Shan Yu and spoke to him with pure dryness. "How _smooth_ and _low_ you were, neglecting your own ancestor's warnings!"

"What did Shan Yu do?" Marius asked.

"Aside from disobeying my father, accepting Penna De Mort's offer to give him a better sword in exchange to burn at least a hundred villages in China, and disgracing Chase Young's legacy of khans and powerful leaders by losing to a clever mortal and an avalanche? Nothing." She then turned to Haya. "So, you summoned me. What the Hell do you want?"

"Your wisdom on how to defeat Voldemort and how to make Penna De Mort turn evil again," Haya asked as civilly and politely as she could. Chelsey just stared at her, making the latter gulp until the smoking addict finally snorted.

"Even if I wanted to help, which I don't, my boss at the SAP wouldn't let me!" She hissed at N Tina, who cowered at the sight of her and surrendered her table for the immortal being to sit on, cross-legged, and keep smoking. "She's a ...determined woman with quite powerful magic that not even my own father can defy. Nevertheless, I can't help you."

"What if we traded?" Dårlig spoke up. "Your information...in exchange for dragons?"

Everyone murmured in confusion. Chelsey Young, however, looked fascinated. Without even saying anything, it took her less than a second to slip away from her seat and lean on the table facing Dårlig. "I'm listening," she blinked.

"Well...Nah!" Dårlig got off his seat. "It's useless! I bet you've already seen dragon plantations. Maybe some with bigger numbers, because this Romanian smuggler that Penna De Mort knows? Pff! He only raises about 200 a year before he smuggles them to the wizard's black market in Transylvania."

"Two...hundred...dragons..." Chelsey actually drooled blood colored saliva out of her mouth, it was hard to tell if she was actually bleeding internally.

"Yeah." Dårlig sighed. "Oh, well. I mean, you don't want to share your wisdom with us, so I guess there's no point in me giving you the smuggler's address. He'd sell at least ten dragons for a diamond, which you could easily afford..."

"Yeah!" Feige joined him in the play off. "You know, he claims that one Hungarian Horntail is sixty times the weight equivalent of a puny mystical dragon..."

"SOLD!" Chelsey grabbed them by the collars and forced them to face her. "One Romanian smuggler's address for the information you want!"

Dårlig and Feige winked at each other as if they just won the lottery and pulled out the business card for Vlad the Dragon Smuggler.

"Why does she want dragons?" Ben asked.

" _She eats dragons_." Gehörnt shrugged.

"Good thing Cassie's not around," Dusk whispered to her neighbor.

"So, about the information," Marius walked up to Chelsey after she slipped the business card under her right cuff bracelet. "How can Penna defeat Voldemort?"

"Three words, prince." Chelsey raised her fingers up. "Soup, yoyo, or pentagram."

"What?" Marius asked deadpanned.

"Face it, prince. As one individual increases the amount of kills for Horcruxes, the more their goodness gets ripped apart." Chelsey spit more smoke out of her nostrils and into the air, showing everyone smoked silhouettes of a whimpering Penna turning into a cackling ghost that faced off Voldemort's shadow in an endless battle. "By destroying the Horcruxes, the good inside them gets destroyed, but because of their link to the Kraken Needles, Penna De Mort's goodness got sucked back into her body when all but one of her Horcruxes were destroyed. Now, we all know that Penna De Mort is pathetically cowardly when good. Flies fly harmlessly around her. Therefore, to become fully powerful to willingly face off her father..." She waited for them to answer for her.

"She'll have to turn back to her evil self?" Marius gasped. "No..."

"Please don't make me sing a musical number to explain my point..." Chelsey begged.

"No, no, you don't have to!" Minuit waved her hand. "So, Penna turns back to evil how?"

"Hey, turning evil is easy but turning _back_ to evil is more challenging!" Chelsey spit more smoke out of her nostrils. "Fortunately, I know three ways to turn Penna De Mort back into her evil, all-powerful self."

"The soup, the yoyo, and the pentagram," Feige said. "But what do they mean?"

" _The soup must refer to the Lao Mang Lone Soup, the special dish of the Young Clan_ ," Gehörnt said. " _It turns anyone who drinks it into an immortal, all powerful being. Small price? Turning into a monster and losing all good, fully morphing you into a villain_."

"Yes, it's a wonderful soup and option one." Chelsey nodded. "Option two. Penna De Mort uses my Ying Yoyo to walk in and out of the Ying Yang World and steps out evil. And last but not least, she stands in the middle of a pentagram while five other witches and wizards recharge her dark magic with theirs."

" **OK,** " Indimia said. " **So which one should Penna do**?"

"Well that depends on which option Penna feels most comfortable with and if the other SAP sorcerers are fine with altering their code." Chelsey chuckled nervously. "Because honestly, I can't even borrow my dad's armor and get away with it without dealing with his massive rage of 'How many times have I told you that my permission is law in this house'. I can't just give away Lao Mang Lone Soup or a Shen Gong Wu without his notification. As for the pentagram, you'd need professional witches and wizards from the SAP to do it, not fools from the Isle or goodie shoes from Auradon."

"Stop, STOP!" Marius shouted. "I can't just let Penna turn herself evil forever!"

"For crying out loud, wake up, prince!" Chelsey hit him on the head with her cigarette holder. "The De Mort Clan will eventually fight against each other for the world's fate! If Penna De Mort faces her father powerless in her good state, he'll kill her and hope will die! If she fights him in an evil, powerful, and heartless manner, rejecting everything she loves for the greater goal, she'll have a bigger chance to face him and save the world. And if she survives, the SAP's next move will be to hunt her down until the universe is rid of her! In whichever context dominates, she dies and the world moves on!"

"But..." Marius choked. His family looked at him in grief. "I...I don't want her to die."

Chelsey rolled her eyes and smoked once more before spitting more smoke that trailed around Marius. "There was good reason Penna De Mort hated royals until she met you. Because unlike them, she's the villain who doesn't get her happy ending."

She raised her cigarette holder up in the air, summoning red smoke to cover her in yet another vortex. "I will be back in three days at dawn! By then, I should be expecting the responses of both sides, so make sure Penna De Mort decides how she wants to turn evil!" The vortex disappeared, leaving only the wooden idol of Chelsey Young. Marius, in a fit of fury, roared and yanked the idol on the wall, shattering it to pieces before he collapsed on his knees and cried in front of everyone.

 _She's the villain who doesn't get her happy ending._


	35. Guilt From Within

Chapter 35: Guilt From Within

How much time had passed? Minutes? Hours? A day? Forever? It was impossible for Lonnie to figure out. Along with being stuck in a layered geometrical structure, she was also restrained from her senses. Either the cell or her muzzle were enchanted, because she couldn't see, hear, or say anything. She never thought she'd imagine it, but she actually missed the annoying dripping water sounds that echoed in the Raft's Third Sector. Occasionally, she felt like her legs were being rubbed, but this only made her panic about what was expected of her in this mad house.

She tried to mentally go to the Dreamworld and see if she could communicate with any of the Nightmare cousins, but she kept bumping into invisible walls. Obviously, the spells for blocking the dream hoppers from anybody else's heads were genetic in the De Mort clan. She wished she could cry, but when she started to, her face got more humid and she couldn't wipe it in her condition.

Suddenly, the bricks around her moved. Gravity pulled her to the ground, but released her. The sound of close electricity caught her attention. When she looked up, she saw that it came from the top of somebody's head and literally moved like living wires. The somebody in question was...

"A..." Alva's finger shushed Lonnie. He lifted a black cloak on top of her.

"Shut up and follow me," he said. His voice was low but made him sound like a sugar over-consumed child who was having a hard time keeping his energy lowered. Alva grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards an opening at the floor. He cautiously helped her slip in it and pulled the bricks back together, blocking their entrance. They now had to crawl their way through what appeared to be an air vent. Steaming fumes that spit very much like dragons blinded them on the way, but Alva seemed to know his direction, so he let Lonnie keep a hand on his left ankle in order to avoid getting lost. After what seemed to be five minutes of crawling and landing your hands in grease, Alva came to a halt and pointed upward. Lonnie nodded silently and watched as he pushed a square tile upward, leading to the most despicably green-and-black chamber/cell the world had ever seen. Knocked unconscious on the floor was...

"M..." Lonnie got shushed again. She nodded in apology and followed Alva to the living area. Martin was knocked out and dressed in a darker, green version of his favorite outfit. _Oh, sure!_ She thought. _I get stripped naked, but_ _ **he**_ _gets a full-clothing change! Mom's actually lucky to be a popular cross-dresser!_

Alva put a finger on Martin's ear. A small blue bolt zapped Martin awake, Alva had to cover his mouth to keep him from yelping or saying Alva's name in shock. "Follow me." Alva guided Martin into the trapdoor and blocked the opening. "We got only about seconds left before the Third Sector freaks get cut off to get out."

As if on cue, the lights flashed through the air holes. Pure blackness ruled the Third Sector, with only the electric light of Alva's hair glowing dimly in the dark. He opened a small door on the wall, revealing a five-foot fall to a river or some sort. "Jump," he said.

Martin and Lonnie looked at each other uneasily. The choices were limited, but they gave in and jumped into the water. The water was awfully cold, Lonnie froze on the spot. Martin grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her as best as he could while he followed Alva through the waters. The waters seemed to go in an endless straight line in a metal, oddly clean version of sewers. A light opening eventually appeared, and the waters got more rapid and starting to become filthy.

And what a shock it was, for the Raft's visitors to see the inside of the Raft. After exiting what appeared to be a great wall of metal that went endlessly up but used its tiles to camouflage in the environment, the group swam into a new different world. Black and light green grass fields, blue sky with a bright sun and puffy white clouds, while swimming in a river that passed what appeared to be a 1950s suburban town with barbed wired fences and houses the sizes of mansions, and up ahead, a distant city made of skyscrapers.

A fishing boat trolled its way towards them. Its sole two occupants, a girl with large glasses in a grey schoolgirl uniform and a boy in a crocodile green carpelet gypsy coat, threw a rope ladder out. "Hop in!" The boy shouted.

"Thanks, Bevalheath!" Alva got in first and helped Martin lift up Lonnie, who was still frozen.

"God, the water must have solidified her!" The girl said. "Swimming in the Alaskan waters must have done it."

"Let's quickly bring her inside." Bevalheath and the girl lifted Lonnie and brought her to the living cabins below the deck. They looked rather homey: wooden walls and floor made of freshly painted planks, a small kitchen and dinner table and chairs, a couch and shelves occupied by a small TV and radio station, two sleeping cabins, and one bathroom. The moment they got in the kitchen, the girl ran to boil up a pot full of water. Alva, in the meantime, hugged Martin.

"Martin, old friend..."

"I thought you died...in the explosion." Martin choked through tears. "Why on earth are you here?"

"My mom pinned me," Alva said as they broke the hug. Bevalheath showed a seat for Martin to sit. "Carly and I managed to get some clothes from my dad's thrift shop for you and Lonnie to use as disguises."

"Disguises?" Martin frowned.

"You can't stay in the Raft." Alva went to check on Lonnie to see if she was melting. "You-Know-Who may be leaving us to scram and go with our lives as we please, but by any second now, he'll realize you two escaped. He's got snitches everywhere."

"He even got McLean neutralized." Carly cautiously carried the pot over to Lonnie. "With her camera system, she could video tape you and your whereabouts and send them to the man." She tossed the boiling water on Lonnie. The ice instantly melted and sent the girl's body back to normal.

"Here, change into this." Bevalheath threw a bunch of clothes at both Martin and Lonnie. They were mostly the same: black biker jackets with red fire motifs on the sleeves, white T-Shirts, torn blue jeans, leather gloves, and black running boots. The only separation between the two was that Lonnie's disguise involved red makeup and a long red wig, and Martin's involved car grease and black eyeliner. Martin grimaced at the sight of clothing that was most definetly not his type unless it was Ruby, but nevertheless changed into the clothing. "Why do I smell like shark bait?" He sniffed at his jacket.

"I could ask a similar thing about the wig," Lonnie said as she hurried to finally get some clothes on her. Even if it was villain clothing, she was pleased it wasn't Voldemort's.

"Sorry, but we needed to get clothes that would mask both your scent and your mark of villainy." Alva scooped some car grease and flattened Martin's hair backwards, even spitting on it at one point to make sure it stuck. He quickly traced the eyeliner on Martin's cheeks to make it look like he spent a lifetime of scars. Then, he pulled out a pair of red glasses and put them over Martin's eyes. Once Lonnie got her wig on, Alva viewed them to make sure they looked physically convincing. "OK. If anybody asks you who you are until we get you out of here, you claim you're the brother-sister gang Fire Lewis and Hot Madrid that nobody remembers because you mostly hang at the landfill and eat dead fish."

Lonnie got up and looked through the curtains covering the only small porthole in the cabin. A dinging sound came from somewhere in the kitchen. "Anyone in the mood for codfish potpie while we discuss the plan?" Carly put on some cooking gloves with salmon patterns and bend down to open the small oven and pull out a casserole dish full of steaming deliciousness.

"I'm in," Alva said.

"I don't get it. Where's the Third Sector?" Lonnie pulled the curtains back together and sat down with the others.

"Camouflaged in the horizon." Bevalheath brought some cups and filled them with iced water before passing them around. "Sunk below us. Whatever artificial stuff that makes the virtual world of the First and Second Sectors a prison paradise come from the metal shell that separate us from the Third Sector."

"We're lucky the 'neighbors' don't care about taking over our life advantages," Carly said as she cautiously sliced in squares the potpie with a knife. "So far, the only things You-Know-Who has done to our sectors are put the essence draining bracelets and use blackmailing to make anyone he deems useful serve him. Otherwise, he leaves us to do our usual business."

"Yes, he's too busy trying to make Horcruxes." Lonnie scowled.

"Oh, you won't believe what he planned to do with _me!_ " Martin snapped. "The world's worst villain and parent has just decided to make _me_ his new son and general and stabbing you and me with an enchanted dagger to switch our marks with brainwashing ones!"

Lonnie blinked. "Well, it's better than being love potioned..."

"He told you about the Handed Dagger of Young?" Alva arched an eyebrow.

"You heard of it?" Martin asked his old friend.

"Who hasn't?" Alva made way for Carly as she put a full plate before him. "The Young Clan created it a millenium ago, the sole Shen Gong Wu they actually built themselves out of dragon bones and the blood of a descendant of Toshimu, the creator of your power. Whoever possesses it can rip the mark of villainy of a villain. The gig is that, unless you either return the mark or replace it with another one, the owner will die."

"That kind of power sounds familiar," Lonnie said. "It sounds like...Starlight Glimmer."

"The Young Clan didn't want the dagger in the hands of foolish evil," Alva said. "Chase Young himself said during the traditional Evil Bragging Tuesday that he gave the relic to Starlight Glimmer for safekeeping."

"Sure. It couldn't be anywhere safer than with a communist unicorn." Martin rolled his eyes drily.

Lonnie suddenly froze. "When Haya's aunt came over for Family Day, she told Moonlight that her mother was nowhere in the Isle. You...you don't suppose..."

Alva shook his head. "No, Chase Young and his daughter Chelsey personally gave Voldemort the Handed Dagger of Young when the Third Sector villains went rogue. They left later on to join the others."

"You mean...there's a bunch of villains out there on the loose who aren't on his side?" Lonnie was shocked to hear this. It was bad enough that Voldemort had returned, but that a bunch of villains had left the Raft? She remembered stories that her mother told her about Heylin villains like Chase Young and his daughter: invincible warriors more cunning than death who wanted to turn the world into ten thousand years of darkness. Even Mushu and Cassie cowered at the stories. None of them lived without knowing of the Young Clan's appetite for the Lao Mang Lone Soup, memorable for its key ingredient being whole dragons.

"Yeah." Bevalheath spoke with his mouth full. "The only thing the Dark Lord's got in allies are the descendants of a bunch of mortal human baddies while three quarters of the villains who left the Third Sector were a hundred SAP wizards and witches..."

"SAP? Amira mentioned it before, but I wish to know what it means," Martin said, clasping his hands together on his cup.

"Hang on, we got a flyer." Carly went back to the kitchen and opened a small drawer full of chopping knives, folded towels, and piled papers filed in alphabetical order or publication date. She skimmed through the papers until she pulled out a red one. She brought it over and laid it out on the table. "It's one of those propaganda flyers we always get in the junk mail. The members of this all-wizards club still bother reaching their message to us Muggles."

Martin and Lonnie looked at the red flyer. At the top right corner was a black pentagram, each corner occupied by a menacing figure that held a spear and aimed it at a screaming figure lying at the pentagram's center. The teens flinched when they recognized the central figure as Penna De Mort's own silhouette. Her open mouth screamed the printed words **SORCERERS AGAINST PENNA.**

Lonnie was the first to decide to read the propaganda out loud. "'A world is filled with villains, heroes, reformees, and other forms of living creatures that, to some eyes, are nothing worth more than pests, yet are relevant to the system's balance. As evil sorcerers, we believe that the evil acts we do are mere contributions to the world's balance. We are made to conquer, to destroy, and to test the worthiness and strength of the warriors out there who were built to stop us. As much as we hate heroes and reformees, we still accept that it's just the way life works.'"

"Reading that first paragraph out loud makes it sound like combining Fairy Godmother's Remedial Goodness classes and Dragon Hall's Unfair Negotiation Class." Martin rolled his eyes. "I could fall asleep by now."

Lonnie widened her eyes as she read further. "'However, sorcerers like us can't tolerate everything. Evil occasionally comes with unnecessary evil, a bad creature that poisons our lives for amusement like a worm to an apple. Such an unbearable insect has appeared in only one form, and that form is Penna De Mort.

"'Lord Voldemort himself has never bothered us, but his daughter has on too many accounts. To her, evil is only to amuse herself and we are her toys. She has purposely sabotaged our plans and ruined our lives. She went even as far as to endanger our children, whose futures may be in peril because of this beast who laughs at us and says that her sole excuse for harassing us was _sport_.

"'We won't tolerate it anymore. Our coven, built by the most powerful witches and wizards and other immortal and dark monsters known to man, have formed to built Sorcerers Against Penna, a society dedicated to purge the world of the parasite that is Penna. We are a society that promise that a perfect balanced world is not one with Penna De Mort killed or destroyed, but one as if Penna De Mort never existed. We are pledged to cleanse the universe of the beast and give our descendants, the youngest members, the future they deserve. We promise to be SAP.'" Lonnie looked up from the paper. "Total extremists _and_ parents-of-the-year! They want to annihilate Penna as much as her own father wants to kill her."

"She can easily kiss goodbye to any chance of survival after the war." Bevalheath shook his head. "If You-Know-Who doesn't kill her first, the SAP will erase her first."

"And the worst part is that the majority of their claims is correct." Carly took the paper back and put it back in the drawer. "The Isle villains suffered sadistic suffering and feared De Mort because of her cruelty, but the SAP villains were personally offended. They are among the greatest villains in their areas and De Mort humiliates and mocks them like a brat in a playground who doesn't know she angered the big bullies."

"The leader has it _worst_!" Bevalheath waved his fork in the air before faking to be poked on the neck by it. "Stories went around for years, even before the SAP leader came to the Isle, that Penna De Mort tried to kill the SAP leader's son when the child was barely eight days old."

"What?" Martin exclaimed.

"No way! Penna tried to kill a baby?" Lonnie paused. "Then again, she is her father's kid..."

"Her father prefers using a Killing Curse. _She_ tried to slice the dude's throat open!" Bevalheath made the hand gesture on his throat. The slashing noise his tongue made did not help Martin and Lonnie. Well, the charming things you never knew about your 'friendly' neighbor.

"The SAP leader was lucky enough to save her infant from death, even if it caused her face to get scarred in the process," Alva said. "Unfortunately, she had to give up her son to her Muggle husband and shield the two of them and their home with a shielding spell. At the cost of never being able to raise her own child, she had to abandon them to ensure that Penna De Mort wouldn't come back to repeat her deed."

"Did she ever see them again?" Lonnie asked.

"She's spreading propaganda to annihilate De Mort." Carly rolled her eyes. "You think she had time for a family reunion? Besides, she claimed that, for the safety of her own boy, she and her husband had to act like she abandoned them because she didn't want to have a Muggle spouse and a half-blood for a son."

"And I thought _my mother_ was the worst mother of the year." Alva leaned over while Carly cleared the table. He turned to Martin. "She got me stuck in the Raft after that warehouse explosion."

"The one where you sacrificed your life to save me." Martin shook his head in guilt. His friend patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, consolation wise, I had no idea that my electricity powers would actually make me immune to energy generating powers. At least two hours after I went unconscious from my fall, I woke up and found myself without scratches. When I got up, the entire place was in ruins. I went off to find you and that's when the SHIELD officials came and arrested me. Not because I was the partner of a dangerous monkey boy criminal, but because they believed my also-arrested mother when she told them I was her accomplice for that nuclear explosion in Hong Kong."

"I remember that year," Lonnie said. "An entire nuclear factory got damaged and threatened to harm an entire town. Took my mom and all the connections she knew to help out everyone and avoid radioactive natural endangerment."

"She completely lied!" Martin hit his fist on the table. "You were with me and several countries away when Electronique blew up that factory!"

"I know, but would anyone listen to a VK?" He shook his head, which made his electric hair move like waved currents. "She didn't last long, though. After the Isle's barrier rejected us and she saw that we were to be imported to the Raft, my mom said she'd rather die than be imported to the Raft. The prison medics decided to let her have it and injected a death serum on her. They threw her corpse in the water and gave the sea monster a shocking dessert."

"At least they let you live in the First Sector's electricity warehouse." Bevalheath pointed out. "Alva's now responsible of running the electric power in all the Raft that generates practically everything. In the Raft, if you run something in the First Sector, it means that it can damage the Raft if you dare tamper with it. Last year we suffered from a blackout when some kid tried heating up a marshmallow over Alva's warehouse generators."

"Is that where we're going? To your warehouse?" Lonnie asked Alva.

"No." He shook his head. "After the short current cut I caused in the Third Sector, the ZAM-Trio will easily figure out that only the Raft's lead expert in electricity and Martin Fiske's sole friend here could have done this to distract them and sneak out the captives. The first thing they might do is raid my warehouse before they start hunting you down. Besides, you're not here on vacation. As soon as we hit the port, we're taking you straight to the submarines that'll get you out of here."

"Where are the submarines?" Martin asked.

"At the heart of the First Sector is a ruined subway station. Back when the place was full of guards occasionally inspecting us, we noticed that they used a hidden door there that leads straight to their submarine hangar. I managed to locate the door, but I can't figure out the code to hack it. Not to mention that by the time we reach the First Sector, the river won't be big enough to support the boat, so we'll have to sneak by foot."

"Superb." Martin rubbed his temples as he muttered.

"Good thing I now where we can find the First Sector's best info broker. We just need to stop by the aquarium to get our passage," Carly said eagerly.

"That's _perfect_!" Alva said. "The aquarium is only a ten minute walk from where we'll have to park the boat." He looked at the two renegades. "I know you've disguised at least once, but you really need to watch how you act and behave. Texas McLean got orders to cover every perimeter with cameras. Even vocal recognition is part of her security applications."

"So that's why you didn't want me to talk when you saved me." Lonnie now understood.

"Exactly." Alva got up from his chair and stretched. He almost caused the room's sole source of electricity to pop. "I don't know if she has already done it, but she could have easily have your voices recorded so that she can unleash sonar detectors all over the Three Sectors. I cross my fingers she didn't."

Once the kitchen was cleared, Bevalheath went upstairs first to the dock. They waited for at least five minutes until he poked his head down and said. "So far no signs of trouble. We should be able to reach the First Sector in about ten minutes."

Carly flinched. "Wait! What about the SCPD?"

Alva gritted his teeth. "Shit!"

"SCPD? Is that like a police department?" Lonnie asked.

"Short for Sector Customs Police Department, sis." Bevalheath poked his head back down. "If any ship or vehicle goes between sectors, they first have to go through the border officials. Make sure that we aren't doing illegal smuggling."

"Gee, how convenient," Martin said sarcastically. "Auradon couldn't do their job to prevent four kids to steal a wand, the Huns couldn't do their job when De Mort stole marks of villainy, and nobody did anything when De Mort Senior took over the Raft. Why are officials so bad?"

"The SCPD are units of robots, not fleshed villains!" Carly tapped on Martin's head. "I live separately from my mom. I live in the First Sector and she lives in the Third Sector. Once, she actually managed to break her way out of her cell and tried to smuggle her way to the First Sector, but the SCPD drones instantly found her hiding in the trunk of a medic's car. They chained her by the arms to ensure that it would never happen again."

"Did the Dark Lord kill her?" Martin's blunt question got him an elbow punch from Lonnie. The three Raft VKs shrugged, the same way you'd shrug when you say that you killed someone, but frankly, it's not like that person would be missed.

But now the question hung in the air. How on earth would they get to the First Sector without being caught by the SCPD drones? Since hiding in a trunk did not seem to work for everyone, they needed to find another hiding spot for the two fugitives. If they didn't, lives would be ruined.

 _Back in Auradon_

This was probably by far the most silent night Marius had ever dealt with. It was like the reappearance of Voldemort caused everyone to shut themselves away when the meeting was over. School was closed, restaurants and shops were vacant of customers, the doors locked tight, and curtains shielding windows. The city looked deserted when Marius decided to just walk his way to the hospital rather than normally fly there. Gray clouds covered the sky, not in the sense of when rain was coming, but in the sense that they felt like depressing someone. And yet, even though it wasn't raining, the sidewalk Marius was stepping on certainly felt muddy.

He sighed. He never should have come to Auradon, or that's what he thought. None of today's events would have occurred if he had just stayed home. Maybe if he hadn't fallen in love... He physically slapped himself. Why was he thinking such things?

Marius: _I never meant things to go this way,_

 _I thought they were cleared in my head._

 _Yet it still happened anyway,_

 _And I just chose to keep ahead._

 _My heart melted from that first moment_

 _When I heard her speak to me. To me._

 _They kept telling to let it go._

 _I should have stayed where I was, but no!_

He jumped on a lamppost and just hung there, watching the clouds boom with thunder, before he went back to marching on the sidewalk.

Marius: _The guilt from within shouts to me_

 _That I should have stuck to my duties._

 _My kingdom does mean to me,_

 _But she's my star above all the rarities._

 _Nobody tells me how she should make me feel!_

 _These sentiments are for real,_

 _I don't need to be a lying eel!_

 _My guilt from within can't heal_

 _A stone heart that I don't have._

 _I won't let anyone through the love I have_

 _For her._

 _My people need me, but so does she._

 _My thoughts scream to me like a banshee._

 _Such crimes seem so deep,_

 _It makes turn in my sleep._

 _Am I sure of what's wrong or right?_

 _Can't I have both in my life?_

 _I can't just let it go._

 _My feelings are so messed up, oh!_

Once the thunder boomed again, the rain finally decided to shower its way down at him.

Marius: _The guilt from within shouts to me_

 _That I should have stuck to my duties._

 _My kingdom does mean to me,_

 _But she's my star above all the rarities._

 _Nobody tells me how she should make me feel!_

 _These sentiments are for real,_

 _I don't need to be a lying eel!_

 _My guilt from within can't heal_

 _A stone heart that I don't have._

 _I won't let anyone through the love I have_

 _For her._

Marius folded his wings down as the rain poured down. Flying was most certainly not recommended under such weather, and frankly he was not in the mood for it.

For a moment, it seemed like it stopped raining when some sort of green light covered him. Yet it still rained behind the wall of light. Marius frowned.

"The Lady would probably assassinate me if you died from a nasty cold," a voice spoke behind him. Marius looked behind him. One of the Death Eater offspring was holding his wand up in the air, holding the green dome that shielded them from the rain like an umbrella. Despite the oddly generous act, Marius wished that it was anybody else but Bayen.

"Funny. Last time I checked, you'd gladly murder anyone who felt like competition to you." The prince scowled at the wizard.

"Normally I do." The latter shrugged in agreement. "But with the turn of events and Bloodyle warning me to not test the Lady's level of patience the moment she wakes, it disgusts me to say that for now, differences must be set aside." He waved his hand at the direction Marius was heading in the first place. Understanding that Bayen was offering to walk him to the hospital in a dry shape, Marius accepted the obligation and walked with him. It felt odd, walking through the street like Moses through the Red Sea, with a rival that you never officially met until a few hours ago. Marius wondered how his father felt when he and Roland instantly became rivals despite only knowing each other for a few minutes.

"So," Bayen was the first to dare to break the silence between them, "judging by the reaction you had back at the meeting, I'm assume you prefer the good Lady over the evil Lady?"

"No. I don't prefer any of them, just the one that the two combined make."

"Combined?" Bayen blinked. "Well that's a first. Not many have seen the Lady with her entire being as one. The idea of you actually seeing her in both at once is... rather unnerving."

"Let me guess. You only know her as her evil self?" Marius guessed.

" _Everyone_ knows her as her evil self, a few have seen her good self, and the numbers of those who have seen her as a whole are down to zero." Bayen briefly looked up at the sky pouring upon them. "The Dark Lord created such a being, he managed to ensure that the link between her goodness and evil was severed enough to prevent them from harmonizing. Each one acts as a parasite to the other. The good Lady is kind but so cowardly and helpless. The bad Lady is powerful, cruel, and selfish, but still manages to have enough decent morality against her black heart. His mistake with his offspring by tricking her mother, a benevolent nature demon, is why he first wants to turn Fa Li Lonnie into a heartless Death Eater before she produces his Horcruxes. No goodness can mean no weaknesses...or at least that's what he thinks."

"And what do _you_ think?"

"I think he's not partially wrong." Bayen gritted his teeth in bitterness. "When two cruel villains mate, they ensure the child's total evil future. If it were villains with a morality, the child has a chance of defecting. And then when there's a case like yours...well, you know how reformees function."

 _Reformees_. The word villains used to express their hatred for antiheroes and their offspring. Even at Auradon Prep, VKs still used that slang to refer to anyone who was a reformed villain, a hardly-heroic hero, or the child of both a hero and a villain. Marius knew instantly that Bayen was calling him a 'reformee' because of his evil and good heritage the same way the prince learned that wizards and witches from Penna's world gave racist words such as 'Muggle' for non-magical people, 'Mudblood' for wizards born to Muggles, 'half-blood' if you were a mix of the non-magical and wizard world or any other separate species, and 'pureblood' if you claimed to have zero Muggle blood in your wizard family. The things you learn when you date the daughter of Voldemort.

"And you? How do you think you function?" Marius questioned the wizard.

"I function as I was raised." Then came a venomous glare. "Unlike you, me and the other children of Death Eaters had no choice. Our parents were all dark witches and wizards, pureblood to no exception, who raised us sternly to obey the Dark Lord and his child solely. My mother took it more seriously than others, as her labeled status of 'Dark Lord's Most Devoted Servant and Most-Unlikely-To-Get-Hooked-Up-With-Him.' She raised me harshly the moment I was eleven, to turn me into a loyal member of the next generation personally assigned to be the Princess of Evil's own group of Death Eaters. By the time I turned seventeen, the maturity age of wizards, she let the Dark Lord cast a youth spell on us. We can still die from anything, but we can't grow old. Also, our cruelty still remains."

"I pity you," Marius said genuinely.

"I don't need your pity." Bayen turned his head gruffly. "My dislike for you is enough."

"Right, I keep forgetting Penna dislikes you the most out of the Death Eater kids."

Bayen snorted. "The Lady never liked any of us. Just like her father, she had no compassion for any of the Death Eaters. My mother also raised me to be like she was to Voldemort: a devoted servant on a high level of mad love, but never gets the mutual respect. The Lady was about forty and still looked like a young sixteen-year-old maiden when I got the job of the seventeen-year-old hopelessly devoted servant slash suitor."

"But...You're telling me that you only pursued Penna because your mother _told_ you to? But that's not fair!" Marius did start feeling terrible for Bayen. Spending about seven decades as someone's slave and acting like a brokenhearted stalker just because you were told to? Marius wondered if Penna never knew about this. She probably did, otherwise Bayen wouldn't have suffered so much.

"Nothing in my life's fair." Bayen said in high tone of awful calmness. "It wasn't fair that the Lady had to keep us around while the Dark Lord planned to have us backstab her. It wasn't fair that she only trusted Bloodyle, her foster sibling and a beast, over us wizards. It was especially unfair for me when she preferred to play favorites with the VKs not related to Death Eaters while I had to suffer never getting the affection I never asked for." He lowered his head. "Even now, I still wish she never adopted Sparkle and Joker, especially Joker."

"Because she actually gave them love." Marius nodded. "She really acts like an overprotective parent towards them." His brain recalled the memory of Penna arguing with Jessie when the former had a hard time accepting the latter's sexual preferences until she had a chat with Marius.

Bayen physically struggled to hold back the tears he didn't have, which made him look more insane than usual. "Because her father ruined her childhood, the Lady played the role of the overly doting parent. She spoiled them with everything we were denied growing up: hundreds of toys, evil cute dresses, kits for girly makeup or pranks, blackmailing the other adult villains so that they could get a deserved education and Sparkle could become a jeerleader, battle or show Pokemon, hyena puppies, purple zebra unicorns..."

"Purple zebra unicorn?" Marius asked.

"Never ask for the story. Point is, the girls were so spoiled, Bergen and Feige were respected for their evil works, Indimia got the food she wanted, and Bloodyle had her regular treatment...But Brittany, Roedor, Drystan, and I were completely left out unless she had to scream at us for not doing our job."

"Ouch." Marius admitted that it sounded harsh, but could he honestly blame Penna? Not really. He was willing to bet that if the Bog King were still evil and had tried to corrupt his own son, the latter would have probably abused his servants if they were only tasked by the Bog King to serve his son. Heck, the Bog King barely liked his goblin servants at all. He could only tolerate his own mother and son, but when it came to his goblin subjects, forget it. Good thing he had his wife to keep him in check.

After at least ten minutes of walking, they reached the hospital. The lights were shut off, the parking lot was empty, and nobody was at the reception. Only a guard or two stood on top of the building or behind the trees, as if to make sure that nobody with bad intentions would disturb Penna De Mort during her coma. Marius and Bayen were lucky to not get shot as they pushed the glass doors open. The building was completely dead silent, increasing the creepiness of a ghost town atmosphere as the boys walked through the hallways. Once they were inside the building, Bayen put his wand away and the green shield disappeared.

"The place is dead quiet," Marius remarked. "I'm shocked the doctors didn't stay."

"I don't like it." Bayen leaned on the nearest wall and sniffed the white paint. "Whenever we're in a place that's 'dead quiet' like you say, it either means that everyone's run off to avoid the Lady's wrath...or that someone stupid is sneaking to jump on her."

Marius stiffened. "You don't think Voldemort sneaked one of his minions in to finish Penna off for him, do you?"

"No. He'd rather finish her off himself. Let's sneak." The boys crouched and started crawling down the hallway. All the doors were shut and the blinds closed, but they still took their precautions whenever they needed to lift their heads up. When they made a turn for the east hallway, they saw that only one door was open. The door belonged to the room where Penna was sleeping in.

" _You've prevailed in collecting her blood. I'm impressed_ ," a dark male voice spoke from the room. Bayen, in a state of fright, covered Marius mouth and pulled him behind a vending machine. Marius kept his mouth shut and his ears open as he and Bayen unintentionally eavesdropped. _Who is it?_ He mouthed.

 _Chase Young!_ Bayen mouthed in fright.

Marius stiffened. The immortal Hun warrior and father of the witch who came to suggest that Penna turned back to evil was here? Judging by the expression of the young wizard, it was a fearful yes answer.

"Of course it worked," an adult female voice spoke back, confusing the boys. None of them recognized that voice. "With Voldemort busy playing with his toys and threatening others' lives, his pest of a daughter is left with little protection. Not even her gang of brats can help her from one syringe taking some of her blood." Some shuffling footsteps were heard and the door slightly creaked. Bayen and Marius sunk deeper in their hiding place.

" _And the issue with turning Penna back to the...right side?_ " Chase Young snickered at the twisted mention of turning Marius' girlfriend back to what villains define as the _right_ side. The side of evil.

"Your daughter gave out the options. In three days, the pest will be obliged to pick out of them. I don't care which one she picks, but I need to get her to exchange a day in order for the plan to work. A day must be given to change another day."

Marius frowned. _A day must be given to change another day._ What did this mean?

" _And your..._ " The immortal Heylin warrior clicked his tongue, " _treasure stolen by Voldemort_?"

The boys heard the sound of a hand slapping the other away. "All will eventually be fixed. In less than an amount of time, everything will be as they were meant to be. Our brothers and sisters will be able to continue with their lives, you can go back to spreading evil and drinking soup, and I will go back to catching up with the days I missed with my family."

" _Splendid_ ," Chase Young muttered in bitterness. With the tone the man had used, Marius now understood who the woman was.

" _And what off the Fae Realm prince?_ "

"As if a fairy goblin hybrid will stop me!" The female voice laughed. "What will he do? Whack me with his father's scepter? Sing me into redemption? Please! He's an insect compared to me!"

Marius felt like his ego was being punched and regurgitated up and down his stomach, as was the effect of his pride being injured. A flashing light came and went. When the boys dared to peak their heads out of their hiding spots...

"They're gone!" Marius and Bayen ran to Penna's room. She still slept in her bed, with an oxygen mask covering her mouth. While her right arm rested on her chest covered by white bed sheets, the other arm was dangling over the edge. Marius held her arm in his hand and noticed a black spot on her wrist. He pressed a finger above it and a speck of blood spilled.

"Looks like they did make off with some of her blood. Question is why?" Marius said.

Bayen pulled out his wand and tapped it onto Penna's wound. " _Sanguis_ ," he hissed. A green glow came out of the tip of his wand and sealed up the cut hole like a zipper. "Good think they only took like three or four blood cells."

"Yes, but what for?" Marius arched an eyebrow. "And what did they mean by 'a day must be given to change another day'?"

"You're worried about _that_?" Bayen's eyes almost went off their orbits. "I'm more worried about who the witch is! Chase Young acts like me whenever I'm around the Lady and I say that her cruelty charms me! That Heylin warrior is more ancient than the Dark Lord, but he obeys _someone else?_ **"**

Marius glanced at the unconscious Penna. His head was having a heard time putting the pieces together. Someone bossing around a close-to-god villain more ancient than Penna and her father? Some witch who saw Marius as nothing that could defeat her and yet still managed to play with others to hatch _her_ plan to rid of Penna for good.

 _A day must be given to change another day._

Just who the Hell was the witch leading the Sorcerers Against Penna?


	36. Fact Tanks

Chapter 35: Fact Tanks

They managed to fool the SCPD drones.

Martin must have been on to something when he criticized the corruption of officials. If he had been wrong, the drones would have realized that he and Lonnie were hiding in barrels full of cold water and piles of dead fish. But no. Being buried in a pile of dead fish was enough to trick the hovering scraps of metal into thinking that no human was hiding in the boat's supply closet when they were being surveyed at the border.

' _Authorization to proceed',_ they heard a computerized voice mutter. They stayed put in their cover for another ten minutes until Alva gave them the warning call that they could come out. "Get me a bottle, you woman!"

"We really need to work on your ideas of codes," Carly grumbled while she and Bevalheath removed the lids of the barrels. Lonnie was the first to emerge, spitting water out of her mouth.

"GAG! It's more revolting than the water in Penna's old sewage rivers!" She choked the rest out of her mouth. Martin stepped out of his barrel and immediately shook the water off him. Most of it landed on Alva, causing him to send some sparks out of his suit that brought up some flames onto Bevalheath's hair. The latter started screaming until Lonnie dunked all the water and fish of her hiding spot onto him.

"That's payback." She put the barrel back in place. Carly placed a hand over her mouth to avoid the others seeing her giggle.

"You learn too fast," Bevalheath said in displeasure.

A yawn suddenly came out of Lonnie's mouth and her eyes started to lose focus. "Uh oh," Alva gasped right when Lonnie fell on the floor and started snoring.

"Seriously!" Martin hissed. " _Now_ you sleep?" Then it hit him. "Hang on. Alva, what time is it in the Raft? I don't even know the amount of time I spent on the Raft."

"The ZAM-Trio and their boss took you two from Auradon at the Auradonian time of 2pm or something. By the time they teleported back, it was 2am. Carly, what time is it now?"

"Close to 8am." Carly pulled out a pocket watch. It didn't go at all with her grey attire, since it looked like one of those cheap, green plastic pocket watches with tarantula motifs that you'd find in the lame punk stores. Add in the fact that there were multiple scratches on it, this is definetly not something you'd give to a proper lady. "With the twelve hour difference between Auradon and the Raft's location, first-timers always faint on the first time. I wonder why Martin still hasn't fainted."

"Probably because he zapped me with one of his bolts," Martin said. He quickly searched and sniffed through the boxes in the supply room until he hit the jackpot. His arms pulled out at least two bottles of...

"Not my dad's golden Wuthering Heights bourbon!" Bevalheath dropped on his knees and begged. Martin simply ignored him and uncorked the first bottle.

"Martin, what are you doing?" Alva exclaimed when he saw the guy dunking a majority of the golden liquid right inside Lonnie's open mouth.

"Improvising." He then sprinkled the second bottle all over the girl's cheeks, neck, and shirt. "In case we run into people wondering why my 'sister' is asleep, intoxication will be the reason."

"Not a dumb idea," Carly nodded. "It's already a miracle that Bev's dad Heathcliff can actually drink this stuff while barely holding the newspaper."

"I told you to not call me Bev!" Bevalheath snapped while he disposed of the empty bottles and threw them in a crate. Martin picked up Lonnie and lifted her before throwing her over his shoulders. He had to pinch his nose to realize that he poured too much of the ghastly alcohol.

They went up to the dock just in time to see the boat approaching their dead end. While the three Raft VKs were busy parking it, Martin gasped in awe at the sight of the city before him.

He couldn't tell if it was the Isle or if it was Auradon...or...a city out of his pure imagination. Urban paradise mixed with slum hell. All the buildings, small shacks to skyscrapers, built out of gray metal to make it seem like a concentration camp, yet so clean and not made of Auradon's leftovers. A metropolis combining the glamour of Tokyo and New York and the hidden darkness of the Gotham City alleys and Isle of the Lost. Even the gray metal warehouses that were being loaded with fish collected by fishermen looked straight. Up above, the virtual sky reflected a sun being covered by gray clouds.

Martin seemed so hypnotized, Alva had to spark him again to keep him awake. The four teens, and Lonnie being carried over Martin, made their way onto the straight, bricked floor of the port. Being a VK, Martin had no problem blending in. Most of the fishermen they passed ignored them or hid disapproving looks from Lonnie. It would seem like they bought the facade of Martin's 'sister' being drunk and that her 'brother' had to carry her around. Even one of them muttered something about how women should be more worried about doing laundry or pleasing men rather than drink themselves off.

Good thing that Lonnie was unawake, otherwise she would have flipped at the sexist comment.

"Guys. Devil dead ahead!" Carly nudged at the boys. They looked ahead and saw her marching towards some middle-aged man with grayish red hair hauling up crates full of dead calamari and oysters onto a blue navy pickup truck. The logo MCSCOTT AQUARIUM, which had a childish picture of a redheaded pool boy being mauled by a humanoid shark, was covering the sides of the vehicle with spray paint. "Mr. McScott!" She called out.

The man looked up from his work. Martin's nostrils agitated from suffering the odor of the man. Chlorine, shark bait, and god knows what else that man swam into!

"Well, if it isn't the little Carly Courtney!" The man spoke in a mild Canadian accent while rubbing Carly's hair in an affectionate manner. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's kind of embarrassing, but a friend of mine got intoxicated from over drinking and we were just planning on stopping by to see Scarlett..."

"Scram in the vehicle." He aimed a finger at his truck full of crates. "Conscious ladies in the front passenger seat only." Carly gave a toothy grin and skipped her way to the front seat while the boys struggled to sit as discreetly as they could between the crates. It was more challenging for Martin as he still held onto Lonnie once the man turned on the fuels and his truck smoked its way out of here.

"You guys consume too much fish," Martin complained. Normally, he didn't mind eating fish, especially since it was his preferred source of protein as a vegetarian, but just being around too much of it was a nightmare. Not to mention that the fowl scent was starting to remind him of Gilliard and how he was missing his best friend.

Great Lord, he could only imagine the panic they must be having on Auradon. Monkey Fist would be losing it, Bates would be overly worried, and Ruby...

His heart ached a lot at the thought of Ruby. He missed her the worst. He hadn't lied when he told her that he couldn't bare imagining life without her. Only a day or so had passed since Voldemort spirited him away and Martin was suffering from not being near Ruby. And the most dreadful part was that the world could end anytime, but he'd never know whether or not she made up her mind on his marriage proposal.

' _I just need time to think this through,_ ' he recalled her saying that night before Family Day back in the apartment. ' _It's such a big step for me. I just...At least give me a week maximum to think it out_.' Naturally, as patient as he was, he agreed to give her time to think. For safety though, he had gone to her father during Family Day and asked the man if, should Ruby accept his proposal, Martin would have the man's blessing. Mr. Wayne had given him an approving answer. It was no surprise that he and Monkey Fist were mutually agreeing that it was only a matter of time before the two aristocratic families joined together. The results would have been satisfactory for both parties: the Wayne family would have their millionaire status ranked up to members of the royal court, and the Fiske family would not only be permanently relocated back in Auradon, but make up for wasted money with the obviously high future dowry. The butlers were just hoping that the couple wouldn't rush ahead to give them more rascals to worry about.

Martin punched a crate near him. To think he'd die and never know if Ruby would have accepted. If fish could kill, he hoped the ones drowning his feet would.

They drove through a few streets in the First Sector. Seeing the local villains move around in their city stunned Martin. "How can one prison look like...I don't know..."

"An evil paradise?" Bevalheath narrowed his eyes drily at a passing shack selling taboo talismans. "Probably to keep us so that we'd wish to never leave."

Martin nodded.

Something then caught his eye. For a moment, he thought he saw a pure, grey metal wall passing him, but when he blinked slowly, making the world move slowly around him, he actually saw something move _in the wall_. It sort of looked like rectangular blood cells ranging from black to light cyan blue that were all moving in one particular direction, even when Mr. McScott turned his vehicle around. "Am I seeing things or are there...veins in the walls?"

"Nope. Those are the Raft's digital veins," Alva said. "It's all the virtual network linking the three Sectors together. All that data you're seeing is heading to the exact heart of the Raft." He pointed behind the truck, down hundreds of blocks, and several skyscrapers away. A large column made of glass, yet shining with such white neon light, seemed to touch the very top of the virtual sky, making it the tallest thing Martin had seen so far in the prison.

"The McLean Tower." Bevalheath said with a scowl. "Home of the McLean and Hatchet Clans. This is where all the science holding the Raft, the sea monster, the Sectors, and the prisoners together. Tamper with anything in the control room and we'll all be doomed."

"How so?" Martin asked.

"Like the Isle, the Raft is being enforced with both magical and scientific bonds," Alva explained. "When you weaken one, the other starts to destabilize until you decide to crush it. With the Raft, not only does it keep the prison in one piece, but it also makes sure to pin down the sea monster on the ocean level with no chance of escape. If the control room gets destroyed in the McLean Tower, then all that's left to do is take four virgins to dance a Polynesian tribal chant that'll permanently destroy the monster's chains."

"And then Kalai Tamatoa starts devouring whatever comes in her way," Mr. McScott suddenly spoke up from the driver's seat right when they pulled into a parking lot behind a greyish blue painted metal building shaped like an upright shark tooth. The logo of the MCSCOTT AQUARIUM was printed on the dirty glass doors and flagpole. A scent of chlorine ten times worse than the man himself evaporated from the building.

The boys and Carly quickly helped Mr. McScott bring his crates of seafood into the storage room. Feeling grateful for the teens bothering to help him out, Mr. McScott gladly took Martin's burden and carried Lonnie up inside a small living room that was roughly the size of the game room back in Auradon Prep. As Lonnie was being settled onto a rusty old couch and being covered by a brown blanket, Martin couldn't believe the state of the place, with the solid walls yet fainted blue paint, the modernly-functioning but retro-looking kitchen, the dusty furniture in one piece, and the foul fish odor of the entire aquarium actually mixing well with the scent of kitchen grease and unclean vacuum. This place was oddly well for the home of an imprisoned, third class villain. Martin had seen quite a bit of the slum neighborhoods that were isolated from his old home in the Northern District, the only safe haven and paradise on the Isle of the Lost for the rich and powerful aristocrats. He had even dared looking at the shack Ruby had lived in while the latter was off on her insane quest.

He still remembered the first time he had seen it. While Ruby was away, he had dared to let Florence Poison Isley show him the shack she had lived in. At first, he had thought it was some poor prank. The place was made entirely out of wooden planks and tin plates hardly kept tightly together. The material on the ceiling barely kept the leaks from coming in, making the muddy floor he stepped on even muddier. Ragged curtains had been hung up to separate the 'house' in quarters: two bedrooms with just one pillow and a blanket laying on a pile, a kitchen that involved a small hole to make a fire and roast the rotten fish before tossing the bones away on a pile, and a bathroom with just a leaking pipe sticking out of the wall for a shower and a rusted bucket for other reasons. This was by far the worst shack in the slum where the poor supervillains lived.

Martin had wanted to believe that the daughter of Poison Ivy was pulling his leg, but the latter facts were evident. Against the odor of cat fur, Martin had surprisingly managed to pick up the scent of his beloved all over the place, the two strongest being the kitchen and the small pathetic excuse of a room. Ruby's 'bed' had the most of the scent she had on the last night they spent together.

' _I can't believe Ruby and her mother lived here_ ,' Martin said before Florence escorted him out of the shack and away from the unsafe neighborhood.

' _Yeah well, with their lack of finances and the fact that they almost can't stand each other, Ruby pretty much lived her friends,_ ' Florence, being one of Ruby's supervillain offspring friends, said. ' _She always smelled like chrysanthemums whenever she took a shower at my place. Mom almost mistook her for a bouquet the first time she used our bathroom.'_

"GAH!" Martin presently hammered his head onto the nearest wall.

"Easy there, boy!" Mr. McScott gruffly pulled him away and forced him onto the nearest chair. "You want your concussion to ring all the way to the McLean Tower."

Alva quickly placed a hand on Martin's forehead. "I think the first day insanity is getting to him," he said anxiously. "Mr. McScott, where the Hell is Scarlett?"

A shrilling scream and a series of splashes followed his question. "Never mind. She's cleaning the Fang Clan Tank."

Martin placed a hand over his temple and rubbed it impatiently. "Remind me again why we need to be in an aquarium to gain access to an information broker?"

The eyes of Mr. McScott widened. "Oh, so _that's_ why you wanted to see my kid!" He said to Carly. "Why didn't you say so?"

Carly narrowed her eyes. "What do you think?" She pointed at the wall. "Can we speak with her?"

"Depends if she's still alive." The screaming came back as he headed towards a door and opened it, leading to a pile of stairs. "Oh, by the way, Alva, how's Aaron holding in the Third Sector?"

Alva stiffened at the question. Carly, however, started to fume and her cheeks reddened. " _WHAT_?"

"So, let's check out the tank!" Bevalheath quickly dragged the confused Martin with him. The boys followed Mr. McScott down the stairs as soon as he closed the door behind them, leaving Alva to suffer the wrath of the angry force that guided Carly into breaking his circuits. Martin was trying to put the pieces together until...

"I can't believe it!" He exclaimed in a sudden geeky tone. "You're Scott from TOTAL DRAMA! So, that means that Carly is actually COURTNEY'S DAUGHTER! AWESOME!" He was shaking like an excited schoolgirl.

"I never knew that the son of Monkey Fist would be into teen drama reality shows," Bevalheath remarked sarcastically.

"What? I mostly watched for the dramatic excitement!" His eyes beamed at Mr. McScott. " _You_ were among the best in manipulation!" The man chuckled at the sight of the boy being such a fan.

Bevalheath quickly changed the topic. "What were you talking about concerning Aaron?"

The man sighed unpleasantly as they walked down the metal steps. "Shortly after the Tri-Relay Games, the news spread in the Raft that the Dark Jerk took Aaron and Rídegel back with him while he left the others to the hands of Auradon," he explained. "Duncan and Mr. Barron are still kept in cells. The Dark Jerk disposed of the Grand High Witch by turning her into a rat and chopped her off in a meat grinder. Talk about irony."

"But what does it have to do with Aaron and the ice skater?" Martin asked.

"They're the only two slaves out of the ones that got exposed that he deemed useful. Rídegel for her flawless contribution in helping Ethelinda Edgar steal Penna De Mort's Horcruxes, and Aaron for being the only one undeterred by Auradon's redemption attempts. While Rídegel went back to her parents, the Dark Jerk saw more use in Aaron, especially since he's like the main community leader in the First Sector. So he's holding him and still blackmailing him with his father's life."

"Aaron may be a delinquent like Duncan, but he's resourceful and fiercely loyal," Bevalheath added. "Aside from the McLean and Hatchet Clans, everyone in the First Sector looks up to him. I bet the old freak thought he could enslave us further by using our leader."

"Seriously?" Martin snorted. "The reformee?"

"Yes, the reformee. He's quite the dark person," Bevalheath said quietly. "Then again, I'd say you know all about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Martin demanded.

"Hello, have you seen yourself?" Bevalheath waved a hand at him. "You used to be a legend among everyone in the Raft! The dangerous super-criminal Martin Fiske, aspiring young villain aiming for world domination through monkeys, highly and darkly rich and handsome! Men envied you, women swooned for you, children wanted to be you when they grow up! You were inspiration! And now? You're reduced as a dog to the people who chased you, being forced to degrade into a life of good! When Alva described you and went to save you, I was expecting some sort of evil hero in need of assistance, but we got this!"

"Easy there, Bevalheath..." Mr. McScott warned.

"What would I have to do to convince you I'm evil?" Martin demanded angrily.

"I got an idea for **the two of you**!" Mr. McScott impatiently grabbed them by the hair and dragged them downstairs. "You can prove your evil by harpooning for me with your bare hands Fang!"

 _Meanwhile, back in Auradon_

"We can't trust the SAP."

Another meeting was being held to discuss on how to invade the Raft. Unfortunately, it was delayed to discuss on the war because now they had a more complicated story. Marius and Bayen, after swearing on the River Styx that they spoke the truth, told the entire audience about what they had overheard when they accidentally eavesdropped the SAP leader and Chase Young while the old villains made off with a sample of Penna's blood. "We can't trust the SAP," Beast repeated what he had said earlier.

"I must say I agree with you." Marius nodded.

" _I did warn you that the Young Clan members were as slippery as legless lizards_ ," Gehörnt said matter-of-factly as he played with a cow skull, using his demon magic to morph it into another animal's skull before morphing again for five seconds.

" _Please_ tell me you guys _might_ know who the SAP leader is!" Ben told Penna's gang. "Bloodyle?"

" _As much as she confided with me the most, I don't remember my sister mentioning anything about some witch after her skin so badly that she would create a coven regime._ " Bloodyle turned to Bayen. " _You used to sneak into her room back on the Isle. Haven't you seen any of her archived documents?_ "

"Archived documents?" Marius asked.

"Penna had a habit for writing manuscripts that recorded all the lives of the people she ruined in alphabetical, age, or relevance order," Bayen said. "Unfortunately, there were some crimes she did not want to share with us. I've encountered quite an amount of ripped pages, I'd say that Mandire's murder is not the only crime she wants to forget."

"Well, if it helps, I've heard of _one_ rumor about the SAP leader back on the Raft," N Tina volunteered while her eyes were still glued onto her laptop. Since she seemed more interested in playing her computer game than sharing her information, Fairy Godmother had to briefly confiscate it. N Tina grumbled and slouched on her chair. "It happened about seventeen or eighteen years ago..."

"Hey, I think I know what day you're talking about!" Brittany gasped. "It was on that rainy, foggy day in the first weeks of October. The Dark Lady said that she had to do an errand outside of the Isle and teleported away. When she came back three days later, she looked like she had been in a catfight!"

"Of course! She even snapped at Bloodyle to butt off when we all asked her what happened!" Roedor said.

"You mean she never told you were she was going?" Mal asked.

"Trust me, when the Dark Lady says she doesn't want to talk about it, she means 'smash everything in the castle and leave me alone unless you want to die.'" Roedor pointed at N Tina. "I bet that's what happened. Penna De Mort got into a fight with the SAP leader!"

"And boy do the rumors say it was terrible!" N Tina shivered. "All the SAP witches and wizards in the Third Sector kept talking about how the SAP leader gave birth to such a powerful baby with her mortal husband, she almost died of childbirth until Chase Young ripped the fetus off her womb and used one of his ribs to create a shell that held the baby in until the little fellow was ready to come out. With his mother and father's unique gifts and the insane amount of Heylin magic from his 'blood godfather', the baby was said to be capable of such evil power that if he had stayed, then he'd unleash a thousand years of darkness!"

Everyone gasped in horror at the idea of the world plunging into darkness that could kill everything from vegetation to living creatures. "So, the baby was a weapon," Marius said.

" _Not quite._ " Gehörnt shook his head. " _Even with its great potential in evil, the little beast had his mother's unconditional love that only rivaled the ones she had for her husband and world domination. Her friends also enjoyed the baby to the point that she entitled them as her child's future mentors in evil once he was old enough to join their ways._ "

"Yeah, but that never came to be." N Tina said. "From what I heard, the witch wanted to have her son move into his father's home for a while when the kid was only a few days old. Next thing you know, she and the rest of her pack heard insane wailing coming from her child's nursery and _that's_ when they saw Penna De Mort trying to kill the baby with a dagger on the throat. And motherly witches are the worst creatures to bug when you threaten their babies. A big battle took place between the two sorceresses until Penna gave up and left, but not before scarring the witch's face with her dagger and promising that harm will still come to her son as long as she lived."

Marius felt like was a cube of ice being smashed into pieces. "W...What happened then?" He couldn't believe it.

Penna? Capable of committing infanticide with her own bare hands and no magic?

" _Well, the witch and her friends had to agree that the baby wouldn't be safe with them until he matured, so she sent him away to live with his father and placed a protection spell so that Penna wouldn't assault them._ " Gehörnt nailed a perfect shot by throwing the bone into a trash can ten feet away from him. " _Unfortunately, by endangering another witch's son, particularly when the witch herself has magic far more ancient than Penna herself, the only thing that Penna has done is spark the creation of a society that wishes her off the surface of the world just because she ruined their lives for fun._ "

"I can actually list a few." N Tina took her laptop back and pulled out a 3D projection of all the witches and wizards in the SAP. Many gasped in horror. All the members were only the worst villains that ever existed. Not even Maleficent could compare to them.

"Chase Young and his daughter, they got humiliated when Penna provoked Shan Yu into losing the war to Mulan," N Tina said. "Wuya and her son Hanlin, condemned them to shift to and back as ghost that decreased their powers. Magica De Spell and her daughter Misticka, stuck with bad luck whenever they run into a dime. Icy and her son Fuar, they almost rotted in the Light Rock Monastery when Penna kicked them there. Hannibal Roy Bean and his daughter Hanna, Penna killed and ate their pet bird and almost did the same to them. Then Oogie Boogie and his kid Queenie..."

"Just STOP!" The Bog King exclaimed. "Are we really doing this, trusting those up-to-no-good magic casters?"

"Isn't there...I don't know, another way to give Penna her powers back?" Marius suggested.

"Trust me, Mal and I spent the entire night researching everything we could on the topic." Evie shook her mirror in frustration. The Evil Queen gave her a small pat on the back for comfort. "I got nothing."

"I don't even know if we're going to find a loophole in time." Dårlig anxiously tapped on his phone. "The smuggler from Romania just texted me at least 50 times to thank me from recommending him to Chelsey."

"Wow, she's fast!" Jessie whistled.

"I know! By the time we were all sleeping, she already ordered a colony of Chinese Fireball and Hungarian Horntail dragons! 70 females, 40 males, and 30 babies!"

" _Smart trade_." Gehörnt chuckled sarcastically. " _Give an entire dragon colony to the biggest eaters of dragon meat. By the time we're all gone in the next 1500 years, Chase Young will have 140 additional cans of Lao Mang Lone soup in his storage._ "

"Didn't Chelsey say that the soup could be one of Penna's options?" Mal asked. "I mean, for all we know, Chelsey probably go the dragons in case Penna chose to drink the soup..."

"I hope she doesn't," Mulan cut in. "The tales of the soup are notorious. Drinking it may give you immortal youth and power, but at the cost of your human soul."

" _Mulan's right._ _If Penna turns evil by using the soup, she'll lose her form into the one of a cruel monster, and the only way she can retain her 'first' appearance is by drinking the Lao Mang Lone soup in a regular daily basis._ "

Marius grimaced. Looks like it gave him a good explanation as to why the Young Clan had a large supply of it. And based on the facts, he was willing to bet that the villain would never share his treasured soup, especially to the one he was committed to destroy.

"What about the Ying Yoyo?" Sean asked. "If I remember what Safír told me, if you use either the Ying or Yang Yoyos alone, you lose your current chi and get stuck with your opposite chi unless you can get the first one back. So if Penna uses just the Ying Yoyo, she would come out evil, but if she took another trip, she'd come back good again."

Marius head perked. Maybe Penna would not be permanently evil after all! "That could work!"

"Unless the Young Clan or the SAP refuse to let her use it." N Tina shrugged. "We then have the pentagram, but I highly doubt they want to transfer their magic to the person they hate."

"This is annoying!" Marius paced around in frustration. "Why do we even bother when they obviously don't want to help? Oh, wait! Because they want to kill her!"

" **What other choice do we have**?" Indimia asked. " **We might oppose, but in her condition, Penna will be so desperate that she might do anything to get rid of her father once and for all**."

"I don't know." Feige curled a strand of her hair with her finger. "Then again, these people are obviously just trying to eliminate Penna because she purposely never let them on with her schemes. I'd gladly bet on all my hair that if Penna had never created the turn of events that led us to where we are, these villains would have gladly spread permanent world domination and a thousand years of darkness faster than a baby eating pie for the first time."

A large knock came on the door. The guards opened it and a messenger came in, running and panting like a participant of the Marathon of Macedonia. Which was very inconvenient, since he wore dark blue robes, close to Merlin's, but much darker and more modern.

"Forgive me for the sudden appearance, your royal Muggle Highness." The messenger panted and bowed before Ben. Because of the dialect he used, there was no doubt in the room as to who he was and where he came from. "I come on behalf of the Ministry of Magic from London, with a message from the minister..."

"Are we getting arrested?" Bayen asked viciously. Bloodyle quickly kicked him on the foot while hissing at him to shut up. The messenger shook his head, making the other Death Eater kids sigh in relief.

"It has been discovered during the weekly round of inspections of the Ministry's departments that the Department of Mysteries has been vandalized," the messenger said, his voice shivering.

" _That's bad_ ," Bloodyle said sternly. " _The department's stock of prophecies is as big as Artemis' garden of Memorbs. Which prophecy was stolen_?"

"None. But...one was smashed." He quivered a bit more before he finally said the words by screaming. "THE ORIGINAL BALL WAS DESTROYED!"

" _WHAT_?" Bloodyle was now freaking out. She turned into a basilisk and started slithering around in circles, muttering endlessly on how this couldn't be happening this and this couldn't be happening that. Everyone looked at the Death Eater children for an explanation.

"The Original Ball is the very first wizard-crafted crystal ball," Bayen explained. "They say that only the most insane would dare to touch it and be exposed to all the knowledge of what is present and what is past. Wizards have claimed that only Dumbledore saw the knowledge in the Original Ball. My only confusion is to why they'd have the ball smashed..."

" _Why? WHY?_ " Bloodyle returned to her humanoid appearance and grabbed Bayen by the hair. She then proceeded to shake him viciously like a ragdoll. " _The Original Ball contained the most powerful and dangerous mother of all the Time-Turners in existence! The Saturnium!"_

"You got to give us more intel, Bloodyle." Minuit replied. "We're not as ancient as you."

"I'm afraid it's more serious than we can imagine." Radiance snapped her fingers. A fog of blue diamond stars hovered at the center of the room, clearing into an image of an hourglass. The hourglass was so unique, since it was made of pure glass, even the sand in it was of a blue sapphire glass. The rectangular pieces holding the bulbs together were shaped to look like intertwining keys, very much like the ones used to make the handles for children music boxes. For each bulb came four keys, eight keys total.

" _Back before they were banned, Time-Turners were used by the wizard community to travel back in time for limited amounts in order to handle one's workfare,_ " Bloodyle explained. " _But because the universe is full of people who just_ _ **never**_ _seem to learn the consequences of time travel, the Ministry of Magic therefore sanctioned the use of Time-Turners and destroyed them._ " She pointed at the spinning image of the Saturnium. " _This, however, is the VERY first Time-Turner. Created by the rings of the Titan of Time Kronos, it was discovered by the founders of Hogwarts, buried deep in an Ancient Roman burial site. Because they saw how dangerous it was, they hid it in the Original Ball because they thought that nobody would be crazy enough to break the Original Ball."_

"Until now," the messenger pointed out.

"How does it work?" Ben asked.

"The Saturnium allows its possessor to travel through time and space as much as he or she pleases." Radiance then made it so that the imaged keys began to glow. "Each key when activated represents the eight forms of time: day, week, month, year, decade, century, millenium, and era." She then snapped her fingers. Her image then showed a purple-fogged silhouette twisting certain keys until it got sucked by a portal that appeared above it. "Depending on how many times you twist the keys, the Saturnium will take you to any date in time that you desire."

"What's the catch?" Mal asked. "I mean there's got to be a price for using such magic."

" _Two catches, actually_ ," Bloodyle said. " _The first is that you need to use extremely powerful magic coming from eight different sources of magic to activate the Saturnium to its fullest potential. The second is...you need to..._ " Bloodyle gulped. " _Give the Saturnium a time._ "

"You need to give a time traveling device...time?" Marius narrowed his eyes. "How idiotic is that?"

"It's simple, really." Radiance waved the image away from the center of the room. "Time travel is always used to change the past in any means. With the Saturnium, if you want to change time, than you must trade time. In other words, if you want to change any day from the past, you must give a past day that you won't regret trading up."

"So...let's say for instance I wanted to do something like stop Cinderella from leaving the ball," Jessie said. "If I wanted the Saturnium to take me to the day when the ball took place, I'd have to give up a day just to go to _that_ day?"

"Pretty much, darling." Radiance nodded.

"What kind of day of my past would I have to give up?"

"Oh, it doesn't have to be just _your_ past!" The daughter of Nightmare Rarity shook her head. "You can trade another's past day if you really don't want to trade away a part of your life. However, if it's somebody else's life that you wanted to trade, you'd have to first get the person's consent of taking that day and then give that day along with a portion of the person's blood to the Saturnium."

"Has it ever happened?" Marius asked. "I mean, was the Saturnium ever used?"

" _I frankly don't know._ " Bloodyle shook her head and tail.

"My cousin and I might have seen it while we dream-hopped as infants, but the Saturnium is so powerful that we couldn't tell if it was a dream or not," Radiance added. "I think it might have been responsible for the eruption of Mt Vesuvius or maybe it flooded Atlantis."

"Great, that makes _three_ problems we have to deal with." Ben grumbled.

"Um, actually..." The messenger from the Ministry of Magic spoke up. "We have another problem. The Muggle intern in charge of guarding the Department of Mysteries disappeared on the same night of the vandal."

"Since when does the Ministry of Magic allow Muggle interns?" Bayen spat in a rather racist tone.

"Only when the Muggle has extreme talents in reading the stars." The messenger backed away as slowly as he could from Bayen, making it clear that he didn't want to be near the Death Eater. "That Muggle has proven that she can actually read the stars to conclude probable results in the things people do, the Minister thought that she might have been a Mudblood on the verge of awakening her powers, so the position was given to her."

"A Muggle that reads the stars..." Dusk rubbed her chin. "I feel like it rings a bell..."

"Please _tell_ me it's not another one of your classmates corrupting to the dark side!" Marius rolled his eyes.

"That's the thing, I'm not sure." Dusk turned her vision towards the messenger. "Out of curiosity, did the Muggle happen to be a gothic teen with a Canadian accent who keeps saying how nothing in her life is worth it?"

"I'm afraid I've never seen the Muggle in person."

"Damn!"

"But I did hear the janitor mention her Muggle odor. For someone of her race, she smelled like a bat after taking a bubble bath..."

"It's Gwendolen alright." Dusk cut him.

"Dusk, you can't be serious!" Othello Traviesa cut in.

"Yeah! I mean, Gwendolen was a creepy goth, I'll give her that, but she wouldn't be evil like Espejismo or Corbeau!" Sparrowfire agreed. "Huh. Am I the only who noticed that everytime a reformee backstabs, it's always a guy with relationship issues?"

"Who on earth is this Gwendolen?" Ben asked.

"She's like Aaron Duncan," Dusk said. "And by that, I mean that her mom's Gwen from TOTAL DRAMA."

"Of course!" Dwight snapped his fingers. "I remember out of all the former contestants Chris McLean wanted incarcerated with him, only Gwen managed to defend herself. Unlike Courtney, her lawyer did his job and kept her from going to the Raft. But I didn't know she had a kid who goes to St Luther?"

"Well, Gwendolen doesn't go to the St Luther anymore, that's the thing," Dusk said. "She used to go to school with the rest of us since we were kids, but because she had such a talent for reading the stars just from observing, the teachers' suggested that she tried applying for special education. She transferred out of St Luther to go to this preparatory boarding school for gifted girls in Liverpool so that she could get a highly rewarded scholarship. But that was two years ago."

"She still keeps in touch with us on Skype and we usually see her at the end-of-school-year party," Othello said. "I just don't recall her mentioning her internship."

"It's the Ministry of Magic, you doofus!" Brittany snapped. "Muggles and wizards usually don't interact unless it's for an emergency."

"Yeah, well, we got an emergency now."

Everyone looked at Marius. His expression had gotten darker than usual. And it made sense, because much faster than the others, he already put the puzzle's first half together. "' _A day must be given to change another day_ ,'" he repeated the words that still stabbed him in the soul. "'If it's somebody else's life that you wanted to trade, you'd have to first get the person's consent of taking that day and then give that day along with a portion of the person's blood to the Saturnium.' I don't think it's a coincidence that the we just learned of the Saturnium's theft just after Chase Young and the SAP leader took some of Penna's blood. I also don't think it's a coincidence that we're learning this right before Penna decides how she wants to turn evil."

" _You mean..._ " Bloodyle was too horrified to say it herself.

"I mean that it's the SAP leader who stole the Saturnium. She plans on using to erase Penna from history so that she and her coven can get back what they lost. All that the SAP leader needs now to fulfill her quest...is for Penna to trade her a day of her past for her powers."


	37. Gwendolen and the SAP Leader

Chapter 37: Gwendolen and the SAP Leader

They all just stared at the Fae Realm Prince.

It seemed like a stupid joke, but after some further contempt, they realized that it wasn't too idiotic of a theory. The only problem was that if it were true, that would glue all their current problems into one.

"So, let me get this straight," Othello told Marius. "You think that the SAP leader stole the Saturnium, she's gonna use Penna's need for her powers to get a day from her, and while Penna goes on a showdown with her dad and we go on war with the Raft villains, the witch's just gonna go back in time to erase Penna out of existence and we'll be doomed to live an alternate universe?"

"Were my words not clear?" Marius scowled.

"May I panic now?" Othello asked Dusk patiently. She gave him a small nod. Cue to him jumping off his rockets and gawking: "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" The moment he morphed into a parrot, Sparrowfire grabbed him by the tail feathers and slapped him back to gravity, causing Othello to turn back into human form.

"OK." Daylight put her hands in a praying form. "What if for now, we worry about how we can retrieve the Saturnium _before_ the SAP leader uses it?"

"Sure, easy thing," Haya rolled her eyes. "It's not like we can just knock on the front door of the SAP. 'Hey, how's it going? We'll just take your Saturnium and go our merry way. Pay your waitresses!'"

"The SAP leader clearly doesn't want to make herself known." Evie looked at her mirror. "I keep trying to ask my mirror to reveal to me who the SAP leader is, but I only get a fogged image."

"No wonder." The Evil Queen looked at the mirror herself. "I forgot that Penna De Mort was the one who gave me my magic mirror in the first place. Knowing that her hated foe can easily see through the magical objects she makes, the SAP leader must have placed a fog spell. She really must not want De Mort or her allies to know what she's up to."

Marius groaned. He felt something tug his tunic and caught by the tail his pet Impius. He frowned at the creature as it chirped something at him. "You think _that_ would work?" He asked.

"What's he saying?" Daylight stared as Marius let the white fluffy creature crawl around his shoulders.

"Something about crystal balls." He shrugged.

"Crystal balls...that's it!" Mal pounded her hands together. "Remember when we used Proserpine's crystal ball last year?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was it back when you guys thought our lives were some sort of reality TV show?" Sean scowled at her.

" _Reality TV show_?" Gehörnt looked confused.

"Last year those jackasses used one of Proserpine's crystal balls to watch what was going on with us on the Isle," Sean explained. "I still don't want to know what they saw me do."

"Like when you got seasick from riding a gondola on the Tarrian River?" Audrey joked. Sean poked out one of his tentacles, warning her to shut up.

"Look, Marius, your pet might be onto something!" Mal got up. "If we can use a crystal ball the same way we did last year, then we can probably see where the SAP are and what they are currently doing..."

"And perhaps see where they are holding the Saturnium, so that we can take it back before they put it to work!" Marius grinned. Murmurs of approval went throughout the room.

" _Allow me to assist_." Gehörnt got up and took a few steps before opening his mouth and releasing the most horrifying screech a dead creature would give. He lowered his head towards the ground and threw up a large mass of liquid redder than blood but stickier than blood, followed by the bones of countless corpses. The liquid and bones twisted together to create a bone column holding up a red crystal skull. " _My father and I can see through crystal skulls with incantations just like the one of Proserpine Pitit Fi Anfèr. However, directly aiming for the SAP leader would reveal to her that we're spying on her..._ "

"Then let's use others from the SAP or..." An idea hit Marius. "Search for the Gwendolen girl."

"Why?" Minuit asked.

"A highly talented Muggle working at the Department of Mysteries disappears at the same time than the Saturnium? You don't think she just walked back to Canada, do you? I bet that if the SAP didn't kill her to ensure that she wouldn't spill out a word out, then they must have taken her with them."

"He might have a point!" Sparrowfire realized. "With her skills, Gwendolen could rival the Weird Cousins with her probability readings! I bet the SAP's making her read the stars to predict their futures!"

"In that case, Gehörnt, proceed." Ben waved at the demon. The latter nodded and cupped his hands over the skull's crown. " _Dark spirits from within this corpse, show me whatever Gwendolen sees or hopes._ "

Red smoke erupted its way out of the skull's eyes and into the air, creating a mirror of swirling demons. Everyone looked as the colors roughly changed from a dark red to a light blue until things finally cleared up.

The mirror showed what appeared to be a dark room illuminated by a ceiling, which turned out to be a living planetarium. To think that this half dome represented every living organism, planet, and star that existed in the cosmos. The floor was a darkly lit carpet, and on it sat a girl in a Lotus position. With one hand, she actually managed to move around the 3D projections of the universe in order to have a better look before drawing the stuff down on a notepad.

" _Enjoying the Cosmic Dome?"_ A familiar voice spoke up. Eventually, the Auradonian audience was doomed into seeing Chelsey Young coming out of the shadows and sitting next to the girl. A bowl of steaming soup, the Lao Mang Lone Soup, rested on her lap.

" _Do tell_!" The girl spoke up with eagerness. " _This was so worth getting fired from my old job!_ "

"Great Celestia!" Dusk gasped.

"It's Gwendolen!" Sparrowfire said. "So she did join the SAP!"

" _This is a whole lot more to my taste,"_ Gwendolen said. " _I get charged double of a telescope's price at the Ministry just because I'm a Muggle, but your boss let's me use the Cosmic Dome of her tower for free!_ " She flipped through her pages. " _Six years worth of knowledge I managed to cover!_ "

Chelsey smirked and took a sip of her soup. " _How odd it is. I'm actually enjoying listening to a mortal geeking out about astronomy._ "

" _Probably because of what Hanlin told Fuar about your argument with your boss and her council."_

This caused Chelsey to spit out her soup and clench her bowl. " _Will Ghost boy ever shut his beak?"_

" _Is that a rhetorical question or are you asking me for what the stars say?_ " Gwendolen dragged a nearby star away until they could see a large circle of universal constellations and horoscopes. " _Because at least one star in each of the 500 hundred constellations predict that Hanlin will break his leg in three hours."_

Chelsey smirked. " _I hope they say I'm the one who breaks his leg. Better yet, if I break his entire skeleton._ "

Some shivered at her sadism.

" _Sorry_." Gwendolen shook her head. " _I can't guarantee that you'll be the one to do it._ "

" _I thought the stars told you._ "

" _Let me clear things up for you_." Gwendolen waved her arms around the entire floating universe the Cosmic Dome was showing them. " _Everything in life changes. The way the stars shine until they die, the way the planets move in circular motions and their moons orbit, the ways asteroids fly...Nothing is set in stone as we move and evolve. As things change, the stars don't tell me what_ _ **will**_ _happen but what_ _ **can**_ _happen based on the actions we make._ "

"Seriously?" Minuit arched her eyebrow as they watched. "That is _so_ clichéd!"

"Shut up!" Brittany hissed. Meanwhile, Chelsey's face gave out a perplexed expression in the mirror. It was like a combination of frustration and pondering that made others wonder what she was wondering. Somehow, Gwendolen managed to read that expression. " _There's a probability bothering you_."

" _Quite right you are_ ," Chelsey said, keeping her body as stiff as a statue while the universe kept moving around them. " _As you can imagine, fifteen hundred years can keep one immortal rather overconfident unless there are some...minor needles in the haystack that can bother you. Don't get me wrong, Ainsley, while I do admire the... head witch's ruthlessness, a rare gift among semi-mortals, and her talents in magic, I cannot help but be irritated by her overconfidence._ "

" _I'll give you that,_ " Gwendolen shrugged. She got up and stretched her arms. " _I've only seen her for like an hour-actually, more like her eyes and silhouette... Honestly, is she such a mystery? I couldn't even see her fully except for her eyes._ "

Chelsey shuddered, actually shocking the Huns, who had never seen their deity shudder. " _Don't remind me. I've never seen such sorcery! She can switch her eyes from blue to grey like snakeskin depending on how cruel she's feeling. My own father doesn't change into reptilian eyes until he morphs into a lizard, and even that witch's eyes creep him out!"_ She shook her head and got up, holding in her hands her now empty bowl of soup. " _Any how, here's my concern. Based on what I've seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, our leader sees no obstacle in her plans, which would sound reassuring if it weren't for the fact that I think she's underestimating the Fa Realm Prince._ "

Marius stiffened. He knew what Chelsey Young was talking about. His mind went back to last night, when he and Bayen had eavesdropped the SAP leader and Chase Young. _As if a fairy goblin hybrid will stop me!_ The words still echoed in his mind as if his brain cells were nothing but canyon walls echoing the villain's crowing. _He's an insect compared to me._ The Young Clan had a right to suspect him, but the SAP leader certainly did not know what she was thinking if her logic told her that Marius would do nothing to stop her from harming Penna.

Meanwhile, the Cosmic Dome cleared away, revealing the empty tall blue room the girls were in and the cylindrical platform they were in. The bright light coming from the opening at the dome's top revealed Gwendolen's full appearance as a gothic wearing a dark green shirt with lighter dark green circular flounce sleeves, military green pants with the similar flounce sleeves that reached her calves' top, lime green mules with a matching necklace. On her entire outfit, astronomical symbols were seen on her shoes, necklace, shirt pattern, and shaping the tears of her pants. Even with the light, her skin was pale, as if she had spent a year locked up inside a panic room without any sunlight contact, and the only thing about her that appeared to be natural was her dark hair, with dark blue dyes, cut into a spikey hairstyle that was brushed downward towards her shoulders. Just by looking at her, one could tell that she was a goth with weird tastes.

" _I see your point_." Gwendolen and Chelsey waited as a series of steps appeared from the walls of the platform, giving them a circular stairway towards the main ground. As they walked, they talked. " _Unlike a benevolent leader like King Ben or a malevolent one like the Dark Lord, Prince Marius is by far more dangerous than the two morally speaking. Because he was born from both a hero and a villain, he does not try to convince people into changing nor does he corrupt them. He thinks that an individual's inner self does not need to be fully good or fully evil._ "

" _Talk about a Pollyanna_." Chelsey snorted as they reached the main ground and headed towards an opening.

" _Except this Pollyanna isn't wrong_."

Gwendolen's words froze both Chelsey and Marius.

" _You've seen how he's dealing with the Penna De Mort crisis. While Auradon is torturing her into pushing towards a diabetic life of goodness and the other villains see her as nothing but a sack of darkness that can do nothing well for anyone, the Prince dearly loves her for both her good_ _ **and**_ _evil side. He firmly sees the two sides merged together as one being, one Ying Yang based soul. The only things that keep his point of view from being a reality are the Dark Lord's possession over his daughter and the fact that Penna is unable to accept the fact that she can live as both good and evil._

" _I don't guarantee any specific future, but the stars' probabilities are the following. If the Dark Lord doesn't manage to get Penna out of the way when he launches his army onto Auradon before your boss uses the Saturnium by the end of the week, it will be him who gets out of the way because she has gone over her denial. If Penna De Mort doesn't stop your boss from going back in time, then it will be the Fae Realm Prince who goes after your boss in a clash in between alternate timelines. And if neither side is victorious, then the space time continuum as we know and don't know it will be annihilated. Not even immortals like the gods, you, and your father will survive._ " Gwen took a deep breath. " _So yeah, I highly advise that you tell your boss that if she wants to make sure that her plan fully prevails, she'd better get rid of Marius Bogfae faster than she can snap her fingers."_

Marius felt like he had been impaled. This was a new experience for him, knowing that somebody had instantly saying he needed to be put out of the way. Granted, he had his first time with Amira Fattura telling Penna that she had to get rid of him, but this time, he was actually seeing the suggestion take place.

A series of lights exploded like stars in the hallway Chelsey and Gwendolen were in, forming to parallel glowing lines that illuminated the hallway. The lights themselves were actually crystal statues of Hindu gods that projected the blue lights, giving lighter room into the place. The hallway itself was taller than a cathedral and made of red stone carved to look like tree roots were growing their way out of the ceiling and towards the floor. The floor itself was made of the same stone, only when put together, they made an infinite list of Asian dialects, it was hard to read.

" _I've seen a bunch of odd architecture throughout my life, but this is by far the creepiest_ ," Gwendolen grimaced as they passed the rows of statues, each throwing a different expression while remaining with the same face.

" _I know_ ," Chelsey agreed. " _First time I came here with my father, our disturbance got the best of us. The head witch's specialty in magic is usually seen as something foolish by everyone else on Earth, yet she and her husband manage to make it a devilish art form while staying evil. One of our cats learned that the hard way._ " By the time they reached a door, Chelsey stopped in her tracks to put her hands in a praying form. " _May Joan rest in peace._ "

" _One of the jungle cats that your dad enslaves was named Joan?_ "

" _Joan of Arc herself. She just_ _ **had**_ _to mistake my father and I for Burgundians, same mistake with the head witch, and the consequences were losing to the Young Clan, get turned into a cat, and get decapitated by the head witch respectively. She was still a good sparring leopard._ "

" _Wasn't Joan of Arc burned to death by the English? Or maybe I wasn't paying enough attention in history class?_ " Gwendolen frowned.

Chelsey Young shook her head as she pushed the door open. " _Ainsley, when you've lived as long as me, they always twist facts to avoid teaching kids the truth. Believe me, the facts they twisted to make everyone believe that women were inferior until the 1920s! That was some b..."_ Gwendolen covered Chelsey's mouth with her hand.

" _And they will remain unknown!_ "

A strange, screeching sound was heard coming from outside. "That's weird," Mal said.

"Yeah, why does that sound so...familiar?" Ben agreed with her.

"I don't know. Maybe Monkey Fist's security system back on the Isle?" Jessie suggested casually. The others looked at her in shock. "What?"

" _What the Hell is that noise?_ " Gwendolen Ainsley asked.

" _Come on._ " Chelsey grabbed Gwendolen by the wrist, but before they could go further, the floor below them popped a trapdoor open. The girls ended up falling and sliding their way into black void until an opening came and fell butt-first onto the floor. " _Great Dashi, that witch is gonna give me a buttock fracture if this keeps going on!_ "

" _That witch had better hope not, Young._ "

Marius froze. "That voice... It's her!"

"He's right. It's the voice of the SAP leader!"

The Auradonian crowd was shocked, even Gehörnt was surprised that they would finally see the demon behind the monster.

Meanwhile, in the mirror, Gwendolen looked the most awed. The girls had been transported into a hall far larger wider than the Cosmic Dome. Much like the hallway they were last in, the hall was made of red stone, only this time the carvings represented animalistic warriors conquering humanity. The pillars holding up the Kathmandu shrine ceiling were quite terrifying, as they were made of crystal skulls (that appeared to be simian) and bones pilled up to make coiling monkey tails. Hanging on the walls were black-and-red tapestries of ancient, dark legends while the ceiling had both sapphire chandeliers and banners (that Dwight Barron identified as the SAP logo) suspending from the ceiling. At each end of the hall, large dining tables filled with banquets worthy of gods waited patiently for their seats to be occupied while at the heart, standing on its own levitated mountain, was a throne carved out of golden ember into a humanoid, monkey-faced deity in a Lotus position and its six arms wielding swords and torches.

"No..." The gasp came from Mulan when she saw the image from the mirror. "Anything _but_ her!"

"You know who she is?" Marius asked. Before the famous warrior could say anything, the answer came itself from what they were seeing.

" _Young, you're excused_ ," the SAP leader's voice spoke from the silhouette sitting straight on the throne. " _While I have a little chat with our guest, you go make sure that the others are ready for tonight's feast. We have_ _ **much**_ _to celebrate._ "

Chelsey gave out a sadistic smirk and bowed to the mysterious sorceress. " _Of course, your Ladyship._ " She gave a small wave to Gwendolen. " _See you later, Ainsley._ "

" _If I'm still alive..._ " Gwendolen grumbled. Then, as if like lightning, Chelsey Young slipped away into the shadows. A door opening and closing was heard, but none could see it. This left Gwendolen alone with the SAP leader. " _So... nice lair,_ " she tried to make conversation.

" **Seriously?** " Indimia pinched her nose. " **That's the first thing you can say? 'Nice lair?'** "

"That's the first thing you said when _you_ came into De Mort's lair," Roedor pointed out before he was silenced.

" _Glad you think so. It has been in my family for countless generations_ ," the SAP leader said. " _The best part of it? The ancient magic surrounding it protects it from unwanted visitors._ "

Gwendolen gulped. " _I hope that the wanted visitors don't end up in a soup pot._ "

" _Don't be ridiculous. Nobody here is a cannibal. Well, maybe the Young Clan towards dragons, but I highly doubt that you'll be killed for your flesh."_ Gwendolen sighed until the witch added: " _I do, however, kill anyone who betrays me or stands as an obstacle. So please, don't try to exploit my hospitality._ "  
The young girl blinked. " _Hospitality? I thought I was just a privileged prisoner._ "

" _If that were the case, I'd have kept you locked up in a cell with barely the triple amount of food garbage they eat on the Isle_." The SAP leader's silhouette got up from her throne. " _Unlike most 'evil wardens', especially the demonic pest, where have I gone foul with you? Three meals a day finer than any in the kingdoms, a fine suite with a warm bed, permitted access to my Cosmic Dome, and forbidding the rest of the SAP from using their magic on you despite their love to torment humans._ " She walked down the steps of her throne slowly. " _I may be evil, but I don't give such hospitality to any plain prisoner. Heavens forbid, I usually don't allow mortals humans with no powers into my land. But then again, you're like my husband. Human, yes, but powerful, and in your case, with potential._ "

" _Uh, thanks?_ "

Most of the Death Eater kids made a face at what they heard. You had to give it to them, with their background and the way they were raised, they were told to despise anyone who wasn't a pureblood wizard, and even though they were of the latter, they had never seen their own boss Penna De Mort give them credit for their magic, as she preferred to pamper other skilled kids who weren't even wizards. So just seeing another witch being nice to 'her prisoner' who wasn't even identified as a Mudblood can make you wonder.

" _Enough talk on trivial necessities,_ " the SAP leader said firmly. " _Correct me if I'm wrong, but one of my minions has overheard you and Young assuming that my plan might fail._ "

" _What mi... the screeching!_ " Gwendolen gasped before she then started doing the math. " _Hold on. Your simian hissing magic, the statues and carvings and your throne of Hanuman, pillars made of simian bones...I know you. You're Winterfields._ _ **Silvia Winterfields**_ _. The Simian Witch!_ "

" _In the flesh and bones."_ The torches of her throne flared up, illuminating her full body and showing all the sight of the new devil.

For one, that evil woman was the definition after Penna of insane beauty. Her voice indicated that she could be close to her late forties, yet she still had the appearance and health of a young mid-twenties woman who just got out of college. She wore a purple and teal crossover of a ninja uniform and a revealing kimono exposing her tanned shoulders and graciously curved, slender legs. Her gloves were fingerless and reached up to her elbows, her knee-high heeled boots were open toed, and her large mass of hazel brown hair, tinted with a couple strands of aging gray hair, was pulled up by a royal sapphire and golden Indian headpiece and set loose into a giant braided ponytail that looked and even _moved_ like a monkey's tail. Her natural colored lips were pursed together into a serious, but enjoyably wicked smirk, while her eyes were by far the most dangerous looking areas in her face: almond shape with sharp denim blue taints, yet when she blinked, they were impaled by two long, thin vertical scars that went from her eyebrows to the level of her nostrils. Even though the healing scars were gruesome, they still couldn't hide the beauty that was the witch herself.

" _Gosh, I've heard of you and your cruelty,_ " Gwendolen admitted before the Simian Witch, " _but I kept thinking it was just one of those urban myths they kept locked up in the Records Archives of the Ministry of Magic!_ "

" _Yes, I did have the misfortune of being required to register myself at the Office of Foreign Magical Spouses the moment after I was married to a British Muggle_ ," the Simian Witch said with a sour frown, " _but tragically, thanks to Ms You-Know-Who, I couldn't barely even live in my husband's castle!_ "

"What's the Office of Foreign Magical Spouses?" Ben quickly asked the messenger, who had quickly hid himself behind a table the moment he saw the Simian Witch in the mirror.

"It's part of the immigration branch in the Ministry of Magic," the messenger said. "When a foreign wizard gets married to another wizard or a Muggle from a specific country, they need to get registered at the office if they plan to relocate in the latter's home and get the local citizenship."

" _Yeah, yeah, I've heard the story,_ " Gwendolen waved her hands. " _No need to remind me of the story. Last I heard, you lose another chandelier everytime you get to the 'how I lost my son' story._ " She looked at the sapphire chandelier that hung above her menacingly. " _Honestly, that is_ _ **one good looking**_ _chandelier!_ "

" _Yes, thank you for giving your sympathy to my furniture,_ " the Simian Witch said drily and crossed her arms. As he watched this, Marius found himself rubbing his chin, trying to solve an odd puzzle. _This is weird,_ he thought. _Her dryness reminds me of someone..._

" _Now, about your pessimism towards my plan!_ " The Simian Witch poked a finger on Gwendolen's forehead, making the girl yelp as if the witch were poking her like a woodpecker with its beak rather than her finger.

" _Hold your headpiece on, I never said it would fail!"_ She pushed the finger out of the way, which seemed to impress the witch. " _How many times do I have to repeat it to you people? I don't guarantee any_ _ **specific**_ _future! I'm not one of those Delphi Oracle, Weird Witches, or Kalandre seers who tell you you're gonna die while the good guys win or vice versa! I only read_ _ **probabilities**_ _, which say what will_ _ **possibly**_ _happen depending on what has_ **already** _happened or that_ _ **could**_ _happen!"_ Seeing as the Simian Witch gave her one of those deadpan 'you make no sense to me' looks, Gwendolen groaned in exasperation and pulled out of nowhere a chart with surprisingly realistic constellation versions of Marius Bogfae, the Simian Witch, Penna and others.

" _OK, follow the pictures!_ " Gwendolen snapped. " _You are the witch holding the Saturnium in your hands! Tomorrow, Penna De Mort wakes up, she decides on her option for turning evil, and the day after that, you come to her and you make a deal with her: help her gain back her powers, and in return, she gives you a day of her past, which you will use to activate the Saturnium to travel back in time. You see where I'm going so far, right_?"

" _Yes, and as you and I know, while the Auradonians and Isle villains will be too busy fighting the Dark Lord and his forces at the week's end, the SAP and I will remain here while I activate the Saturnium, and erase Penna De Mort from history, thus giving my brothers and sisters the vengeance we all desire, and me, the empire that my husband and I craved to give to our son."_ She snickered before getting serious. " _But the insect?_ "

" _Yeah, the insect._ " Gwendolen went through the sketches. " _Probabilities all agree that unless Marius Bogfae is disposed off as soon as possible or if he dies in the battle, he'll be hunting you down to prevent you from victory. Even if you two have to battle until all alternate timelines and the space-time continuum are annihilated and we go back to the Big Bang, he won't rest until he saves her._ " Gwendolen crunched her chart back together and stuffed it into her pocket. " _So yeah, knowing how most of the bad guys here crave for_ _ **TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF DARKNESS**_ _, you'd better get rid of the prince."_ When she said 'ten thousand years of darkness', lightning cracked all over the ceiling, and distant sounds of power going off and unpleased shouts were heard.

" _I see your point,_ " the Simian Witch said. " _But please, don't use the TTYD sentence in my home. It's taboo for my ancestors' spirits to hear the name of one the things they never got to accomplish._ " She snapped her fingers. The sound of invisible doors opening and closing came again. A giant muscular guard with monstrous marmoset arms and legs made of armor came in. Gwendolen gulped and backed away as slowly as she could.

" _Homer, have Wardeth go to Auradon. Tell him that if he succeeds, he'll finally have the head his mother always wanted._ " The guard nodded, punched his chest, and walked back into the shadows, followed by the same noises.

" _I thought your son didn't even know who you were," Gwendolen frowned._

The Simian Witch laughed, making her voice echo through the pillars, and patted Gwendolen on the head. " _Don't be ridiculous. Wardeth is the son of Warmonga. Like you, he's not a wizard, but he was let in for his special talents. In his case, it's for his_ _ **assassination**_ _talents._ "

Great. Now that meant that Marius would have to expect an assassin to come for his hide.

" _So, since the stars never told me...who the heck is your son? Same question for your husband._ " Gwendolen asked.

" _Perhaps you'd like a hint. Tell me, who do my insanely unique eyes remind you off?_ " The Simian Witch leaned close enough for Gwendolen to cringe in horror and disgust when the witch did exactly what Chelsey Young had described to her. Like a snake shedding skin, her eye colors literally changed, playing with value and saturation until the denim blue sharpness finally morphed into a gray nightmare.

A _shadowy_ grey.

The light coming from the torches also gave away something she had on her bare left shoulder. A mark of villainy that looked too familiar to not be recognized.

"No way!"

"That can't be!"

"Impossible!"

"She's..." Marius lost his words.

" _You're..._ " Gwendolen couldn't choke out the words.

" _Yes,_ " the Simian Witch sneered. " _I, Silvia Winterfields, the Simian Witch and leader of the Sorcerers Against Penna, am also known as Lady Silvia Winterfields Montgomery Fiske. If I'm not being clear enough, I am married to Monkey Fist and I am truly the biological mother of Martin Fiske!_ "


	38. When Sharks And Aliens Come Out

Chapter 38: When Sharks and Aliens Come Out

Martin didn't know how much time he had spent hopelessly trying to harpoon Fang the mutated shark and his son Jawseph in order to distract them so that Bevalheath could clean their tanks and rescue Scarlett (who had been wrapped up in seaweed by the sharks), but he actually found it relaxing to try and fail at impaling fish.

Finally, once Bevalheath managed to get the tanks cleaner than a stainless looking glass, Martin dropped the harpoon and sat on the cement ground that surrounded the open pool above the Fangs' tank. "This is why I never go fishing!" He took a deep breath for air. His disguise was soaked to the bone and the makeup and car grease were making a huge mess on his face and hair.

"Eesh!" Jawseph Fang creeped at the sight of him. "You look like Ezekiel when he went into his zombie phase." He took a sniff and pinched his pointed nose. "You even _smell_ like him! Yuck!"

Martin really wanted to punch that shark in the face. Luckily for the two of them, Alva came back (in a bruised state) carrying more of the makeup and car grease he needed to readjust Martin back to his misleading appearance. "Smart move on Mr. McScott's part," Alva said. "With the foul gunk odor the Fangs leave around in their tank every month, your scent will be less than easy for the enemy to track."

"SOUP'S ON!" A clanging noise was heard. Mr. McScott came in pulling a cart holding a large pot with steaming scents that made Martin feel like his own was decent. Carly and Lonnie, now fully awake, came in with napkins and bowls.

"Great, lunch break!" Fang stretched himself with his weird mutated arms and went to sit with his son and the others at the bleachers. It was an odd sight for Martin, seeing a bunch of enemies with one half wanting to eat the other sitting together for lunch as if it were a temporary truce.

Mr. McScott poured a large scoop of whatever he had made into bowls and passed it around. Both Martin and Lonnie puked after the first sip. "What the hell was that?" Lonnie exclaimed.

"Dad's ghastly clam chowder," Scarlett shrugged. "Eat it for a never decade and you can't taste it anymore once it goes down your stomach."

"This is unfair!" Bevalheath threw his bowl onto the ground. Plastic shards and soup spilled everywhere. "We're in the sector that's the best off in the Raft, and thanks to those McLean and Hatchet sharks, we eat aging seafood and overripe produce while they eat like kings!"

Lonnie looked at him with sympathy. "Then why don't you come back to Auradon with us?" She asked. "If you don't like it here, then why don't you try escaping?"

"You're naive." Jawseph shook his right arm, revealing a bracelet just like the ones the Four Brats wore. "The Dark Lord will over-consume our essences if we dare to escape the Raft, even if it's just to avoid our miserable lives that began long before he came. And even if he never were here, we couldn't last on the main surface. Because we never lived under a _real_ oxygen atmosphere, we'd die from suffocation."

Lonnie lowered her head. Martin gave her a small pat on the shoulder, giving her a silent ' _At least you tried.'_

"You guys helped me clean the tank," Scarlett said. "A returned favor is in order. How can I help?"

"Yes." Alva pushed aside his bowl and clasped his hands, causing some electricity between his thumbs.

"Easy there!" Jawseph warned while he and his father cautiously backed away. "Sharks and magnetic electricity don't do well!"

"Sorry." Alva toned down his electricity. "Scarlett, you're close enough to Holly, right?"

"Yep."

"She's the best information broker in the entire First Sector. Problem is, we can't reach out to her personally without some good _connections_." He winked at her.

She grinned. "Backstage passage, huh? I can easily snatch us that at the D3T Disco Club..."

"Hold it!" Martin snapped. "Alva, your information broker is in a _disco club_?"

"I keep forgetting your high class status," Alva sighed.

"He's talking about Holly Buerromuerto Azaleafields," Carly said.

"Oh, right! Heather and Alejandro's kid!" Lonnie said. "Evie told me that she heard Leona say that Holly works at her parents' disco club as a singing dancer."

"Yeah, the place is literally short for _Dead Donkeys Don't Talk Disco Club!_ " Jawseph laughed out loud and rolled over in laughter, and soon everyone laughed at the idiocy of the acronym until Martin's dead glare made them clear their throats and go back to reality.

"Thing is, even though Holly's good at giving out information that people want, she also happens to be great friends with Texas McLean. Unless you give her a good price, she'll blab everything to Texas." Scarlett rubbed her chin until he eyes set on Martin. "We should be good."

" _Good with what_?" Martin asked coldly.

"OK!" Lonnie kicked him right in the toe area of his boot, causing him to yelp. "Who's up for some groove at the club?"

"Dude," Jawseph nudged at Alva, "get me her phone number if her relationship with Artemis Nightmare ever goes south!"

 _Later_

After Scarlett changed into a short marine blue party dress and messy bun, they headed for the D3TD disco club. Even though he and Scarlett were natural enemies back at the aquarium, he decided to call in a truce because he really wanted to hit the bar at the ghastly place.

Alva was correct about Martin disdaining disco clubs. Aristocrats always prefer fancy dinners and balls while the commoners tended to lean towards the wild, flashing parties past dark.

The D3TD Disco Club looked like one of those old fashioned grey warehouses they had back in the 1940s, only the windows were blasting with rapid lights and the blue door was guarded by a man in a neon red outfit.

When the group walked up to the guard, Scarlett pulled out from her pocket a plastic bag full of minty coins, an unbranded bottle of cologne, and a Blue Caterpillar Tobacco pack. The guard's expression did not budge from under his sunglasses, but his hand did reach out for the goods and stuffed them in his jacket. He moved to open the door for them. "Enjoy the show."

Martin and Lonnie had to briefly cover their eyes before they could gasp at the sight of the club. The black painted walls were rivaled by the colorful tiled floors that kept flashing lights above the dancing crowd or the warehouse shelves full of girls dancing their peacock feathered dresses off in front of a wolf whistling crowd. If the patrons weren't busy giving lecherous eyes to the dancers, they were busy getting themselves drunk at the bar tables. Donkey shaped disco balls hung on the ceiling above the large blue stage and runway that formed the club's main attraction.

"I feel like throwing up," Martin grumbled. Scarlett managed to find them a table located among the others closest to the runway. Scarlett flicked her fingers at a waitress, who nodded and seemed to go off to fetch something, while Jawseph occasionally lowered his sunglasses in order to get a better view of the dancers. "Fresh meat." His tongue licked his drooling lips, making Lonnie cringe in her seat.

The waitress came back with a tray full of six mugs full of alcohol and a box of cigarettes. She whispered something to Scarlett and nodded her head before going off. "Guys, don't drink the beer. It's drugged," Scarlett warned.

"Then why'd you get it?" Alva snapped quietly, making him barely audible with all the noise coming from around them.

"Hello, club rules! If you're gonna be here, you need to either be watching the show or ordering drinks." Scarlett lit herself a cigarette and started smoking. "Problem is Holly's mom has the bartenders inject drugs in the drink. Makes the patrons want to order more."

"And make more money?" Lonnie guessed. Scarlett nodded her head to confirm.

"What money?" Martin rolled his eyes. "You bribed a guard with junk!"

"Junk that are pricey in the black market," Scarlett pointed out. "Seriously, I managed to swindle one guy one time with a pack of Blue Caterpillar Tobacco and I ended up with a hundred bucks! That's how economy works the best in the First Sector."  
The lights suddenly darkened in the club. Murmurs of excitement came from the patrons while bodies rushed to be closer to the runway. The group watched as the lights turned blue and aimed at the stage, showing some sort of peacock silhouette until it started moving like a human silhouette with a peacock tail. "Here comes Holly," Scarlett smirked.

Holly: _Boy, oh my, ya make me loca_

 _When I see you tonight._

 _I feel like I can fly tan alta_

 _As we dance in the night._

The lights flashed to add the drama when Holly revealed herself. The men went nuts and whistled at the Asian-Hispanic girl as she shoot her king sized-peacock feathered skirt while the lights reflected on her skin-tight leotard made of blue and green glitter. With her dark hair tied up in a ponytail and her bare feet walking on tiptoes all over the floor, she really looked like an actual peacock showing off.

Holly: _I feel that divertido when I look into your eyes._

 _I feel my escalofríos as I fall into your smile._

 _Broken heridas open until ya touch them._

 _Blood and corazón beat when ya bring me in the air._

 _Boy, you're my ángel diabólico_

 _That fell right from Hell. Oh-oh._

 _Boy, you're my demonio perfecto_

 _That breaks my fragile shell. Oh-oh._

 _Boy, you're my mal sueño_

 _That cuts right through my stone heart. Oh-oh._

Holly stopped singing and took a bow. The public cheered, somewhat begging for more. The moment Holly's head lifted up and spotted the group, Scarlett took the opportunity to blink at her several times as if to send her a message. Holly responded by exchanging a message with similar dialect to Scarlett. She rose back up and saluted the crowd before heading off the stage and towards the door leading backstage. Despite the disappointments, the festivities went on.

"Let's go." Scarlett got off her seat. "Holly's giving us fifteen minutes to talk business with her before she has to go back on stage."

"I didn't know people could blink Morse at each other," Martin said with small fascination as they dodged their way through in order to reach the door.

"You should learn it in the future. It's actually handy when you want to have a private conversation with someone in a place full of people!" Scarlett opened the door and cautiously led them through a purple painted hallway until they reached a white door with a red star and 'HOLLY' spray-painted on it. Scarlett cautiously knocked on the door twice. Footsteps came from behind it and was followed by a series of countless clicking and chain swinging until the door finally opened.

"Hurry in, I don't have all day!" Holly's voice said impatiently. They rushed in. The door instantly closed behind it and Holly, who was now without makeup, out of her costume, and dressed in a white robe, locked the world's most insane door locking system ever. By the time she was done with her 13th lock, she devoted her attention to her guests. "Let's make it quick, Scarlett. What info do you want and what will you pay me?"

"Info goes to Alva. Here's your price." Scarlett roughly pushed Martin. "Five seconds with this guy. Special tip."

" _What?_ " Martin nearly yelled. He gulped when he noticed Holly giving him quite the eagle glare as her index finger traced his facial frame.

"Aw, Scarlett. You got me a tall, dark, _demonically gorgeous_ British? How thoughtful!" Holly smirked, making Martin want to punch everyone in the room, especially Scarlett. Seriously, why did every single woman in the world think he was handsome? Personally, he never gave a damn on whether or not he had biceps or a mole. His simian limbs were beauty enough for him.

"So, Holly," Alva spoke up while Holly was busy admiring the poor monkey boy's skin. "Do you know how to reach the submarines to get out of the Raft?"

"Yes." Holly sighed at the sight of the now-grumpy Martin. "The fastest way from here is by taking the good old Riddler's Ferry heading southwest. But to get to the subs' docks, you'll have to go through the Pipe Maze."

"Pipe Maze?" Lonnie frowned.

"Yeah. The Pipe Maze," Holly confirmed. "It's the fortification they built around on of the Third Sector cells to prevent the prisoner from getting close to the exit. Not like it worked. When the Simian Witch escaped that cell, she easily made her way out without a scratch."

Martin suddenly found himself paling up like a white corpse. Seeing his sudden reaction, Lonnie quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away. "Gosh, bro, you're burning up! Let's take you out for some fresh air!" She said.

"Oh well, I had fun." Holly unlocked the door and escorted them out. "Thank you again for coming by. And Alva, when you get the chance, do get me your friend's phone number. He's very _guapo_."

"Thank you again, Holly." Alva nodded. "Good luck back on stage."

"Same to you and _buenos dia!_ " Holly gave them a friendly wave and watched them make their easy way out back to the dance floor and out of the club. Once she had the chance, she shut her door, jumped onto one of her red velvet chairs facing her vanity mirror, and grabbed her green telephone hanging on the counter. She dialed a number and waited until the receiver answered. "Texas? Holly here. Thought you'd want to know: Scarlett just came to see me with Alva, his buds, and the fugitives. They're heading for the submarines via the Riddler's Ferry. By the way, you might want to hurry up. I think Martin Fiske just freaked out when he found out that the Simian Witch was locked up in the Raft."

 _Meanwhile, back in Auradon_

Marius could only imagine that Fancy Pants' girlfriend was _beyond pissed._

Ever since the attack, Ruby had been with her father, helping the Auradonian military get enforced with help from the Wayne Enterprises, so she had missed what happened at the meetings. However, the moment she got a call from Mal telling her about what they just learned, she instantly ditched her task and drove back to the city in her motorcycle, and when the others reunited with her, they found her in an even angrier state.

"Son of a bitch!" Ruby had screamed and punched a nearby window. "Monkey Fist's gone!"

They had searched everywhere in the 'friendly compound' the villainous parents were supposed to be staying at during the end of the Pride Games, but the lord was nowhere in site. Bates was still here, but not his master.

"Talk about parents," Gilliard muttered. He, Ben, Mal, Marius, Fairy Godmother, Bruce Wayne, and Lonnie's parents were watching behind a black screen as Bates and Ruby were in another room, facing each other at a table for interrogation. "But seriously, that witch is Martin's mom? Man is he gonna freak out when he finds out!"

"He already knows her?" Marius asked.

"I assume he does. Martin told me once about how he had gotten those claws of his." Gilliard agitated his hands as if to imitated a cat stretching its claws. "Apparently, after his fallout with Ronilda, Martin was embarrassed about the scandal he committed, him serenading her being the worst."

"Don't tell me," Mal rolled her eyes. "He went to the Simian Witch to give his singing voice away to her?"

"Yeah, except _she_ then decided it was only fair for her to give him something in return, so she gave him those enchanted monkey claws that allow him to kill people just by blocking their chi. That was the first and last time they met, but apparently she managed to scare him."

They noticed that Ruby had finally decided to start interrogating Bates, so they shut up and listened with the utmost attention.

"I know excuses will mean nothing to you," Bates said quietly, "but please don't start hating the young master for what his parents did."

"Bates, you know I can never hate Martin." Ruby sat upstraight. "My only problem right now is that three adults, _especially your boss_ , have lied to him."

The valet frowned. "That's what's upsetting you..." He stopped when Ruby viciously punched the table.

"Martin doesn't deserve this! I _really_ don't want to hurt you, Bates, but if you don't me everything that you know about Martin's _real parentage_ , I'll be playing dirty myself!" To emphasize her point, she savagely scratched her adamantium nails onto the wooden surface, scarring it with white cuts. Bates sighed and straightened himself up.

"Very well. As you know, when the kingdoms united to make the United States of Auradon, I was still keeping the Fiske Estate in order while my master was trapped by the Yono's stone curse and was rudely donated as a figure for the sculpture garden until Discord freed and released him in exchange for friendship between their offspring. But what you didn't know, Ms Wayne, is that my master's freedom was part of _another_ deal agreed on by the spirit."

"What do you mean?" Ruby was confused.

"You see, like many of the heroes and reformees living their new idyllic life, Discord had married the love of his chaotic life and wanted to have children, but because of his chaotic metabolism, having children with his pegasus wife seemed impossible. So he went to the one sorceress who had enough ties to grant him the fertility he needed. The Simian Witch gave him the fertility spell, but in return, he had to give the one thing she needed to help her fill up the need of a family she craved."

"Wait," Ruby paused him. "The Simian Witch asked Discord to bring her Monkey Fist...because she wanted a family?"

"Yes." Bates nodded sadly. "Throughout the generations her family had been persecuted for being Monkey Witchcraft sorcerers descended from the creator of Mystical Monkey Power, she was very much the only one left in her legacy. Not to mention she grew up being a fan of my master's archaeology works. After making his deal with her, Discord went to free Lord Fiske and brought him to the Simian Witch, and I still don't know what rock he was made off as a statue, but he and the Simian Witch instantly got the spark."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ruby grumbled. "Just like that, they hit it off?"

"Need I remind you that you had a similar reaction with Martin?" Bates pointed out. "True, the young master wasn't aware of his magical heritage, but just like his mother he had succeeded in, as youth would say it, 'hit it off' with a mortal, rich thief, and very much like his father, he harmonized with a brown-haired woman with incredible ancestry."

Ruby bit her lip. "Touché. But, Bates, have _you_ personally met the Simian Witch?"

"I have, occasionally. She frequently came to his castle when they got engaged barely a month after meeting, but the master never let me come with him to her lair. She only had a dozen villainous friends and not the hundreds she currently has in the SAP, but they all had the craving to torment humans that the master didn't want to have me risk my life by going there.

"They eventually wedded at an ancient stone circle in England in the dark of midnight. The new Lady Fiske had managed to put a restraining order on her friends so that they wouldn't kill me as I attended. And do let me tell you this, Ms Wayne, that the wedding day was the first time I had ever seen my master so happy ever since he started his evil career."

"I can imagine." Ruby nodded sadly. "Wait. Out of curiosity, wasn't one of her 'friends' Chase Young?"

"He...was more of a mentor figure to the Simian Witch than an actual friend. While he had the interest of making her his own queen at one point, she kept rejecting him even more after she got married. Chase Young taught her too well to respect vows and she took her matrimonial vows with Monkey Fist _very_ seriously!"

"She's committed, I'll give her that," Ruby admitted.

"Yes, committed enough to actually use a Shen Gong Wu on him, the Obsidian Vessel, to keep him at her leash's length and prevent him from any funny business. The cycle was repeated and the apprentice turned on her master."

Ruby wanted to rip the wood off the table. "Tell me how Martin came into the picture."

"Ah, the young master." The valet straightened himself on his seat. "After the wedding, Lord Fiske and his new lady went off on their honeymoon for about a month. When it was over, only Lord Fiske came back to the castle. 'Whatever is the matter, my lord?' I asked him, and he said 'Bates, it has finally happened. Silvia is pregnant.' 'Well, isn't that a wonderful thing, milord?' 'Yes, except for one problem. The baby is killing Silvia.'"

Ruby felt like she had been punched on the stomach. "Martin... was killing her?"

"As you know, on his father's side, Martin has powers rooted from Mystical Monkey Power, the Yono, and Discord. But with his mother it was more complicated. Not only did she also have Mystical Monkey Power, but she was also a direct descendant of the power's founding father and Yaveske, and she had studies in Monkey Witchcraft and Heylin magic. With such powerful ancestral magic, the sapling she was harvesting within her was greedily consuming her energy and strengths, threatening to kill. She almost died until Chase Young came up with a solution: taking out the embryo and using one of Chase's ribs to create a shell that would keep the baby developing until he was born three months later..."

"Three months later?" Ruby's eyes widened. "That's so premature!"

"Indeed," Bates said. "Martin was then born, and unlike what everyone believes, his mother adored him on the spot. Each of her friends, including the Young Clan, held the most affection for such a bundle of joy with promising evil potential. All the powers, talents, obsessions, and cruelties that came from the parents and the blood godfather, he had them. They treated him like the evil messiah.

"After the child's christening, Lord Fiske and I went back to the Fiske Estate to prepare for the relocation of the infant, for it had been decided by his parents that while Martin would grow up and be raised in his paternal home, he'd spend his holidays at his mother's lair where he'd be trained by the others until he was ready for his promised fate. But that never came to be.

"At some point, Penna De Mort must have discovered the newborn's birth, a twist of fate she hadn't planned like the rest of the villains she had manipulated. Like her, he was born in an unusual magical conception, so she must have feared that if she couldn't get a hold of his mark of villainy, he'd pose a bigger threat than he already was and decided to kill him. Somehow she managed to slip her way through the lair's barrier and sneak into the nursery where he was sleeping."

"Why does that sound like Voldemort when he tried to kill Harry Potter?" Ruby asked.

"It almost sounds like it, except Penna De Mort tried to play clever. She took the advantage of the baby being alone in his nursery while the adults were in another room, and instead of trying to murder with a spell, she tried to go the classic way: cutting his throat." Ruby covered her gasp with his hands as he continued. "Naturally, his Mystical Monkey Powers awakened his instincts and his wailing echoed all over the place, alerting the others. When they caught the rat, the Simian Witch was beyond enraged that a witch like Voldemort's daughter would dare harm an innocent baby with a dagger. The two witches engaged in a horrific battle that almost tore down her Isle until their own powers couldn't handle each other anymore and they had to put an end to the fight. Of course, Penna De Mort did not leave without first insulting Lady Fiske by using her dagger to scar the latter's face right above the eyes. If her friends hadn't cured her, the Simian Witch would have become a blind witch."

As the others continued to watch and listen from across the glass, Ruby was doing her best to control how she was currently feeling while Bates continued. "The Simian Witch and her friends feared that Penna would dare to return to harm the infant, so the choice had been made to leave him with his father while his mother busied herself casting a protection shield upon their home to cast away De Mort. Unfortunately, the more the Simian Witch had to keep herself away from her family just to protect them, the more her hatred for Penna De Mort increased. Eventually, she realized that along with her friends, many evil sorcerers out there got injured by De Mort even though she didn't purposely twist their fates. As the years went by, the Simian Witch and true second-in-command, her husband, worked together in the shadows to rally the most powerful witches and wizards scorned by De Mort. Secret letters were exchanged, spiritual communications performed, members purposely letting themselves into villainous prisons to get recruits..."

"Wait." Ruby paused him. "Are you telling me that there are SAP members in the _Isle_ too?"

"Naturally. Witches like Starlight Glimmer and Narissa have been reported missing, but it was just them leaving for the SAP with their children unaware. My master took the time he had on the Isle to communicate in secret with all the magic-users despising Penna De Mort and convincing them to join them in his wife's society. I must say, he at one point tried recruiting Karlos Python after he learned how the Dark Lord's daughter ripped him away from his brother, but the boy refused."

"Penna was using Charles against him back then to get his cooperation." Ruby nodded. "I bet Karlos refused because he thought that if he joined the SAP, Charles would have been even more damaged than usual." She grimaced at her mention of the one VK in all of Auradon Prep who suffered the most agonizing trauma based from Penna's cruelty.

"There's one last thing I need to comprehend, Bates." She decided to bring the interrogation to a close end. "After some...research, I found out that the 'mom' Martin murdered was a sterile zoologist that my dad once encountered at a charity event."

For the first time during the interrogation, the valet gave a bitter scowl of disgust. "The dirtiest trick that my master and his wife could ever come up with. When Martin began to wonder where his mother was and if there was any chance of reconciliation, his parents saw there an opportunity to finally get their son the mark of villainy he deserved. Using magic and forgery, they had him believe the zoologist was his biological, which sparked his flight to India. Knowing that's where he'd be heading, his parents personally reached out to the woman, a woman who was going through a depressive failure at work and was considering suicide.

"They bribed her with some of the Simian Witch's sapphires and promised 'a ticket to peaceful rest' if the zoologist agreed to play the role of the 'mother' who abandoned her child out of hatred and tried to hand him over to the authorities. You already know what happened next."

Ruby said nothing. Like a statue made of ice, she stiffly got up and opened the door. She gave him a cold wave of the hand that told the valet to get out. He sighed and stepped out, letting a couple of guards escort him out. The others came out of their spot, but Ruby gruffly told them to leave her alone. They watched her walk down the hallway, and when their backs were turned, Marius went after her.

"His mark was never about matricide," she told him when she instinctively guessed his presence. "It was about being willing to commit murder."

"How coincidental," he said, "that we both have challenging relationships with childhood trauma cursed murderers."

"You're telling me." Ruby pushed the door of the station open, leading them to the still gray, silent real world. She stopped when she heard a distant rustling sound of leaves and the familiar sound of a weapon being thrown. "DUCK!"  
They both ducked. Marius had to fold his wings to prevent the spinning ax from piercing them. The weapon smashed the glass doors, breaking them into shards while the beastly object flew back at the hands of the one who had throw it from across the parking lot.

"What the Hell?" Ruby exclaimed. They looked up and saw a green skinned and haired young man in a magenta and black skin-tight armor and golden shoulder plates and bracelets. Red cuts covered his bare arms while his yellow eyes with red irises glared at the two targets. "What's your problem?" Ruby shouted at him.

"The Cat Girl does not need to worry," the green man said. His fists clutched his ax's handle tightly enough for them to hear the bones cracking. "The Simian Witch has given straight orders to Wardeth. Only the Insect must die."  
"Wardeth?" Ruby's eyes widened. "Ronilda told me about you. You're the son of Warmonga and Warhok. Your parents tried to take over the world. But why are you working for the Simian Witch?"

"Because he's like Gwendolen." Marius put himself in a ready pose, his hands waiting to grab his sword just in case. "They were hired for their special talents, and his are in assassination."

"And Wardeth has orders to assassinate." He threw the axe again. "For Lorwadia!"

Marius got ready to block the ax with his sword, but Ruby was quicker. She clung her adamantium nails onto the blade, provoking purple sparks as the contact made a scratching noise that both irritated their ears and made them wonder which metal was currently being scratched.

"RUN!" Ruby screamed at Marius after she threw the ax right back at Wardeth. Marius didn't wait a second and sprung his wings. He quickly grabbed Ruby and dragged her into the air with him, flying away from the sound of something falling and scratching.

"Did you kill him?" He asked, somewhat hopefully.

"No, but I tried aiming at the tree behind him so that it would land on him!"

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"Because A, I don't kill people, and B, I used a tree for a distraction!"

"Distraction?"

"Yep. Keep flying to the next block until you see the bowling alley!"

The prince frowned but sighed and flew his way above the city until he found the place Ruby was referring to in the neighborhood. They landed in front of Neo's Bowling Alley and Skating Ring. Ruby used her shoulders to push the doors open. Marius was still wondering why they were coming to an amusement area while an alien assassin was chasing them. He soon got his answer when he saw Ronilda Stoppable, Melgo Lipsky, and another kid from St Luther, Grey Griffon, drinking soda at the bar. Judging by the dozens of empty cans thrown on the floor, he guessed they failed at letting sugar intoxicate them.

"We got trouble!" Ruby shouted at them. They perked their heads up.

"What could be worse than waiting for the world to end?" Ronilda grumbled. "Leave us alone."

"Wardeth is here," Ruby replied deadpan. This caused Ronilda to chew on her words and spit out the ginger ale she was drinking.

"The kid of those green aliens?" Grey looked at Melgo. "I thought they were sent into Tartarus after the authorities thought they'd make trophies out of the villains' heads."

"Oh, he's in the underground. The _SAP_ underground." Marius quickly checked the windows. "The Simian Witch sent him to kill me."

"Martin's mom?" Ronilda's eyes widened.

"You've heard?" Marius turned his head.

"Saw it and lived it." She discarded her can of ginger ale and got off her seat. "After she had her little 'deal' with Martin and found out we dated for even a few hours, she went to Yamanouchi for my head. I wonder if that's why she ended up in the Raft..."

"Hold on." Ruby scowled. "Are you telling me that while she sends over an alien murderer to finish off Marius, she willingly got her hands dirty just to kill _you_?"

"Yep. It's one of those 'bad guys' code of rivalries'," Melgo said. "My mom vs RJ's mom, the Fiskes vs RJ's dad, Shan Yu vs Mulan, Voldemort vs Harry Potter... It's what happens when the villains have such worthy opponents that they think only they have the right to kill you."

"So by sending Wardeth, the Simian Witch is pretty much calling me worthless." Marius looked ticked.

"Ooh, that must burn!" Grey hooted until Melgo punched him on the arm. Meanwhile, Marius pondered until he seemed to have come up with an idea.

 _A second later_

The doors bursted open.

"WARDETH IS HERE!" The green alien shouted. After getting rid of the annoying log the Cat Girl had thrown at him, he had jumped on his hovering board to catch up with the Insect. A smirk had come to his face when he spotted the Insect trying to discreetly spy from a window in a bowling alley. His prey had nowhere to go.

The bowling alley had shut off its light, leaving the place in complete darkness. Wardeth shook his ax, making the blade glow with magenta light that acted like a torch guiding him in the dark. His eyes looked left and right, his spine brought him up and down so that he could check under the tables. Little did he know, something was hanging on the ceiling's support beams and glaring him with its night vision goggles. It then made the decision to jump on him and scratch its metal nails at his eyes.

He screamed as blood spilled over his eyes and turning his vision into nothingness. "WARDETH CAN'T SEE! WARDETH HAS BEEN...GAAH!" While the thing on his back jumped off, a new thing came and started flying its way around him, giving his arms serious scratching that were meant to destabilize him.

"WARDETH SHALL KILL YOU ALL!" He swung his axe around, not knowing what he was trying to hit, until two fiery blasts burned his hands, forcing him to scream in pain and let go of his ax.

"NOW!" The Insect's voice screamed.

One at a time, the mysterious forces started throwing round, heavy objects at him. With his new blindness, Wardeth could not easily tell where the balls were going. If he thought one hit him on the gut, another actually hit him on the shoulder. Then, like a cruel twist of Sisyphus and his punishment, a ball fell from above and hit him right in the skull, knocking him out.

A pair of hands clapped and the lights came back on. Several bowling balls were dispersed on the floor.

"Wow!" Ronilda and Melgo high fived each other.

"Marius, your plan was genius!" Ruby said as she grabbed a napkin to wipe off the blood of her nails. "Blinding Wardeth was just like blinding Bloodyle back on the Isle!"

"You blinded Bloodyle?" Marius frowned.

"Don't ask."

"And then the way I bugged him and the girls burned him so that you could snatch his scepter and then we threw the bowling balls at him?" Grey changed from griffon beast into his human self. "So cool!"

"Yeah, especially when you dropped the final bowling ball on him, Grey." Ronilda nodded.

"Does that mean you'll go out with me?" Grey's eyes beamed.

"Yeah, don't think so."

"Ooh, that must burn!" Marius said in a taunting voice. Grey grimaced at the sarcastic echo while the prince picked up the alien's axe and contemplated the latter's unconscious body. When he saw the back being the only part not covered by armor, another idea hit him. He raised the weapon and brought it upon the alien. After a minute or two of serious carvings, he dropped the ax on the floor.

"You know you're a sadist, right?" Grey asked as Wardeth's greenish red blood stained the earth.

"I know." Marius shrugged. "Hey, Ruby. Want me to write a PS from you to Fancy Pants' folks?"

Ruby cracked her knuckles. "Sure thing. But I'll write it _myself_..." A beeping noise came from her jacket. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out her phone with a black cat themed case. Her eyes widened. "We'd better hurry up with that PS. Jessie just texted me that Penna just woke up."


	39. Riddler's Ferry and Killer Marmosets

Chapter 39: Riddler's Ferry and Killer Marmosets

Spending so much time on the Raft made Martin miss the Isle of the Lost even more than he did usually back in Auradon. At least on that tiny island, they had creepy trains and actual dark nature where he could move freely. Even the slums looked better than the endless metal urban nightmare they were going through.

Honestly, how could the Raft kids go around claiming that the First Sector was better off than the Third or maybe even the second? The moment they got out via the backdoor of the D3T Club, they instantly met a neighborhood full of factories spitting foul smoke worst than the one you'd smoke, narrow alleys that forced groups to walk in straight lines, and doors that led to different ghastly stores. The Isle had reasonably cheap to extravagantly expensive stores fit for a villain and Auradon had idyllic malls for everyone, but the Raft was overwhelmed with several black markets run by despaired villains and corrupted antiheroes. Lonnie did her best to stay close to Martin, and judging by how she was trying her hardest to not be seen breathing, Martin guessed she was overwhelmed too.

"Protein bars! Protein bars! Get two protein bars for the price of one!" Martin and Lonnie's eyes widened when they saw a vendor selling off gelatinous bars to a bunch of hungry customers even though they could see right in front of them a giant machine slashing and grinding bucket-sized proportions of dead bugs. Jawseph covered his mouth but couldn't hide his throat's noise of possible vomiting.

"The sooner we reach the train tracks, the better," Alva whispered.

"Slaves of all ages! Get them cheap while they are still young!" Lonnie bit her lip and looked away when they passed a stand where some crooks were selling off a bunch of kids that didn't even reach the age of twenty. Just seeing a toddler being sold off to a drunkard for the worth of a dog's price was too much.

"Get your Blue Caterpillar Tobacco while it's still one blight coin's worth!"

This caused the group to stop when Scarlett decided to hit the brakes just to give the caped man a coin and a whole box full of cigarettes. After pulling her away from the big crowds into a quieter area of the alleys, Alva scolded Scarlett. "Do you really think it's necessary to buy cigarettes now?'

"Guys!" Bevalheath tapped his fingers onto their shoulders and pointed up ahead. Right between a drug stand and a two-people flea market stood a gazebo. Metal bricks formed crooked pillars that held up a bloody roof that actually looked like it was made of dried up blood. Gods know how many people it took to suck up all that blood.

"Perfect!" Alva took the lead. "The Spicer Grave is the mark point between this black market and the train tracks. If we go past it, we'll reach the tracks and jump on the Riddler's Ferry as soon as it comes."

"The Spicer Grave?" Lonnie frowned. "Why does the name sound familiar?"

"Eh..." The Raft kids said in unison.

"Let's just say some deaths are best left to be not discussed," Jawseph suggested. They headed for the gazebo and almost reached it until Alva suddenly panicked and pulled them aside.

"We got trouble!" He hissed. "Times two!"

"You don't mean?" Carly's eyes widened.

"Cook!"

"Cook?" Martin frowned and took a quick peak behind Alva's back. For the next two seconds until Bevalheath pulled him back, his jaw dropped when he saw what Alva meant.

Normally, huge stocky men like Gaston, Biff Tannen and their kids never impressed Martin, but the guy he saw menacing one of the merchants by the Spicer Grave was _huge_ and _buffed_. He couldn't tell how young the guy was, but he had the height and muscles to be a Canadian or Polynesian boxer or demigod like Dwayne Johnson or Maui even though the guy was obviously black. His loose lemon cream blouse was unbuttoned, revealing the buff dark muscles covered with Polynesian tattoos on his arms and chest, and it went well with his green cargo pants and business shoes. His frown was sharp, his nose straight, his small mustache was well groomed, and his baldhead had a weird anchor tattoo.

Add in the fact that he had a cooking knife and whisk strapped to his belt.

" _Cook Hatchet,_ " Jawseph whimpered. His shark skin actually sweated as his teeth gritted.

"Any chance we can ditch him?" Lonnie asked.

"You can't just _ditch_ this guy!" Martin said. "If I'm correct, he's the son of Chef Hatchet, which means he probably got the old man's hawk sharp senses of smell and sight!"

"How do you know this stuff?"

Martin coughed as an excuse, but Lonnie guessed it. "I can't believe it. You _really_ are a TOTAL DRAMA geek!"

"He's not kidding, though." Alva cut the humor down. "Cook's a dangerous hunter as he is a chef and a bodyguard. If people purposely try to avoid him, he'll instantly know they're up to something. We'll be dragged all the way to McLean Tower!" He quickly glanced back. Cook was leaning onto the Spicer Grave so stiffly, he could have been part of the décor.

Then, Martin lifted a finger. "I think I have an idea!"

 _Seconds later_

"Will you quit _stalking_ me, Sushi Boy?"

"It ain't curfew, chick, I do what I want! Now come to Papa!"

Martin's plan started out pretty well. Having Scarlett and Jawseph jump into the black market's center and start bickering about harassment was enough to catch Cook's attention and make him break his way through the crowd that gathered to watch the two fight. After feigning curiosity, Martin, Lonnie, Alva, Bevalheath, and Carly pretended to shrug and make their merry way, with Lonnie doing a fake cuddle with their arms, Carly reading a catalog on the best local run-down pharmacies, and Martin and Alva sharing headphones while listening to mute music.

"NO PDA IN THE BLACK MARKETS!" Cook shouted as he broke apart Scarlett and Jawseph before the latter could start ripping the other's dress.

The others managed to reach the Spicer Grave.

"There you are, Hatchet!" Scarlett hid herself behind Cook and pointed a finger at Jawseph. "Arrest him for sexual assault!"

"I didn't even _lick_ you!" Jawseph protested. "Arrest her for false accusation!"

"Well I ask that _you_ get arrested for claiming false innocence for something that you are clearly guilty of!" Scarlett shouted back.

"Get arrested for fish racism!"

"Get arrested for being a sticking fish!"

"ENOUGH!" Cook grabbed the two of them together by the collars and lifted them up in the air, making them stop arguing.

"I don't wanna be arrested!" they whined.

"WELL GUESS WHAT?" Cook shouted as he dragged them away with him down the black market. "I'LL HAVE YOU BOTH ARRESTED FOR DISTURBING PUBLIC BALANCE!"

"Reality show offspring," one of the merchants shook his head to a nearby con artist. "They're totally dramatic."

While the commotion was going on at the black market and Cook Hatchet was dragging away Scarlett and Jawseph, the others have managed to get out of the area and were now making their way down the dry grass covered hill before heading to an area that looked like an abandoned train station. Half of the building looked like hit had been smashed like a giant boulder, the rusty tracks actually made creaky sounds despite the lack of wind, and old damaged train tracks were spread everywhere, making them homes for more people in poor conditions. WELCOME TO CAN TOWN was painted in dull white paint on a wooden sign impaling the ground. Positively speaking for the Auradon visitors, this place was less crowded than the black market by at least twenty people.

"So much for the First Sector being better off than the Third Sector," Martin said with a gruff.

"It used to be better until You-Know-Who came along," Carly said. "This area was actually the only green area in the neighborhood with clean water. We already have limited resources in the Raft, but ever since he came, hoarding from us became a reward for the Third Sector jerks who allied with him."

They walked until they reached the tracks, which split in four different directions. Alva looked around until he found the one with the words 'SOUTH' carved on the planks. He leaned down and grabbed one of the metal beams, making it glow blue with his electricity, and right on cue, a boat shaped train painted in sick green and covered with purple question marks came rolling in. It rolled its way at them and stopped, creaking its rusted doors open. The teens rushed their way in, and as soon as the last one stepped in, the doors closed and the train ran again.

"Are we the only ones taking the train?" Lonnie asked. She brushed away the dust from one of the green cushioned seats before sitting on it. The others followed her league while Alva stuck with standing.

A static radio scratch came through the speakers and a male voice spoke up. " _I... constantly fly. I'm... a villain's... best... friend... and a hero's-ZZZZZHHHH... worst foe. Who-ZZZZHHH am... I, I, I, I, I, I..."_

"They still haven't fixed the radio, huh?" Carly grumbled.

"Just ignore it." Alva shrugged. "The Riddler just _loves_ to mess with the people on the carts by spreading his riddles on the radio."

Carly just gave Alva a cold glare and marched off to the seat facing Martin. They said pretty much nothing for the rest of ride while the dark city passed them behind the windows. After one stop, the cart only got one additional rider. Some ghostly girl in a black-and-white kimono and a black hood. Martin paled up when he saw the purple marks on her face.

"Hey, Yuki," Carly gave a small friendly wave to the ghostly girl. "You're looking well." Yuki gave her a small nod and smile, all very silent. She silently dragged her feet, increasing her ghostly status, and faced Martin, who looked as frozen as a statue.

"K...K...Kaonashi," he stammered and hugged his legs. Yuki lost her smile and started to look sad.

"Be nice, she's sensitive!" Carly said.

"I'm afraid of Kaonashi spirits!" Martin exclaimed. "The more greed overwhelms them, the hungrier they get and they start eating people! I have nothing to give, so please leave me alone!"

A smile of approval appeared on Yuki's face. Her hands cupped together and purple glowing Japanese characters appeared for five seconds before disappearing. "You think I have no greed?" Martin blinked. Yuki nodded. More magical characters appeared and this caused Martin to look depressed. "You're right?"

"What? What did she say?" Lonnie asked.

"She said that I'm born evil but I'm not evil despite my crimes, and I'm not really good because... I'm not really a forgiving person."

"But didn't you feel forgiveness for Ruby after you found out she, you know, robbed you and caused you to be arrested?"

"Yeah, but it's different with Ruby! I love her too much to not forgive her!"

More characters appeared out of Yuki's hands, and this time, a mystical voice echoed and messed with the train's speakers, making it sound like Yuki's vocal thoughts were being recorded. ' _Only those capable of love and understanding are capable of truly showing forgiveness.'_

Yuki shook her hands and a large golden nugget the size of a coffee mug sprouted. She tapped her fingers on it, causing it to vibrate a living image. It showed Ruby punching on a table while Bates was sitting on the other end. ' _Martin doesn't deserve this!'_ The scene then switched to a conversation between Marius Bogfae and Ronilda Stoppable in a bowling alley.

' _The Simian Witch sent him to kill me.'_

 _'Martin's mom?'_

 _'You've heard?'_

 _'Saw it and lived it.'_

The image and the nugget disappeared. The train approached this factory full of ghosts and Yuki started to make her silent way out of here.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Martin ran after her, only for the doors to close on him and leaving him to bang on the doors as the train left and Yuki disappeared in the ghost crowd. "What were you telling me?" He punched on the door again before dropping on the steps and heaving his lungs deeply. Before the others could reach out and say anything, he got up and sat back on his seat in Lotus position. "How much time before we reach our location?"

"A good half hour. Why?" Bevalheath said.

"I need to make a spiritual contact." His eyes and body glowed in a deep red glow, putting him in a trance.

He should have picked a better time to enter a spiritual contact, because the Riddler's Ferry seemed to be heading to a dead end.

 _Meanwhile, back in Auradon_

Marius double checked each street before flying as fast as he could to the next one while the others followed him in Melgo's jeep. "We have to hurry to the hospital!" He shouted. "I don't think the Simian Witch will wait until tomorrow to get a day from Penna!"

"OK, but how on earth can the Simian Witch give Penna her powers back?" Melgo shouted against the wind blowing on their faces.

"Apparently she has the choice between Lao Mang Lone Soup, Chelsey Young's Yin Yo-Yo, or..." Ruby began.

"STOP!"

Marius stopped flying and Melgo hit the brakes, nearly getting a heart attack at Ronilda's screaming. "RJ, you know I hate it when you scream while I drive!" She snapped.

"Forget your heart attacks, I have the Yang Yo-Yo!" Ronilda pulled a white yo-yo out of his backpack. The black yang symbol on it flashed in her hands. Marius gasped and flew down to have a better look. His eyes gleamed with the light reflecting on the yo-yo.

"I'm so stupid! Yin and Yang!" He suddenly got excited. "Ronilda, does the Yang Yo-Yo work like the Ying Yo-Yo?"

"Hey, as far as I know, both Wu work the same way." She shrugged. "Use any of the two and your chi reverses when you step out of the Yin-Yang World. Use both and you keep your normal chi. Long story short..."

"Penna doesn't necessarily have to make the trade!" Ruby smirked. "If she uses the Yang Yo-yo, she won't have to make a deal with Martin's mom of trading one of her past days to gain her powers! Melgo, how much time do you have until you can reach the hospital?"

"Too long." Melgo made a face when she looked at her dashboard. "I forgot to fill up the fuel tank."

"I can give Ronilda a lift." Marius shook his wings. Ronilda opened her mouth to say something, but that was before she froze and pointed her finger ahead of them. They turned their heads and Marius fluttered above to see the thing that Ronilda was pointing.

"Aw, the cute fluffy thing!" Marius cooed at the furry thing, barely bigger than his hand, standing on the road like a cuddling mouse.

"Marius? Walk away from the marmoset," Ronilda said stiffly.

"Seriously, Ronilda, I thought you weren't monkey phobic like your dad?" Grey frowned.

"Normal monkeys, no, but blue-eyed marmosets that serve the Simian Witch? _Those_ I'm afraid of!"

Marius nearly lost his eyeballs when he looked at the fury creature again and realized to his horror that the creature had the same denim blue eyes as the Simian Witch. Emphasized best when the small monkey growled deeply and its eyes phased to an enraged shadowy grey. The fur agitated, grew, and thinned up to be furry porcupine quills while its howling body mutated into larger proportions. The teens wanted to run away, but they were too terrified as the marmoset's small muscles turned into thick, burly Herculean limbs, the chest fur dissolved into metal Indian armor, the arms and legs morphed into those of humans bearing spiked protection plates while the simian hands and feet remained, and the tailed turned into a spiked hammer like those in the Olympics. The face was scarier: shape wise, the head was human, but the facial structure looked like the one of a marmoset roaring and bearing its teeth like a gorilla while its pupil-less eyes burned in shadowy grey.

"That is one..." Grey gulped and sweated, " _killer marmoset_..."

The beast roared and flung its hammer tail at them. While Marius flew out of the way, the others ran out of the jeep as fast as they could. Melgo nearly made it out just in time for the tail to damage the front of her vehicle. "OK, I busted my allowance just to get this car! That's it!" She clutched her fists and summoned green blasts out of her hands and shot them at the beast. While it was busy roaring, Marius and the others made a run for it, but the beast must have had eyes behind its back. Its quills sprung out in an attempt to pin them on the nearest wall, but Grey swung his tribal axe at them, slicing them in half before anyone could get hurt.

"OK!" Ruby was beginning to panic. "How did Martin manage to get biologically related to a crazy-prepared witch? It's like she knew when to summon the killer marmoset in case Wardeth failed!"

Marius looked back at the creature tackling a fired- up Melgo while Grey kept slicing away the flying quills. After squinting very well, the prince could have sworn that even though the killer marmoset did not have pupils, it still had this reflective light that was... oddly shaped like a human silhouette. A _feminine_ silhouette. His memories jotted back to when they had spied the Simian Witch telling Gwendolen that one of her minions alerted her of Gwendolen's 'claims' of possible failure.

"The monkeys... They act as her spies! I bet that while we were busy with Wardeth, she sent one of her marmosets to spy on us!" He said. "With its small size, there was no way we could have noticed it!"

Five quills were shot at the nearest lamppost, nearly hitting Marius in the ear. The killer marmoset viciously growled at him. "I think he didn't like that comment!" Grey shouted.

"Gee, no kidding."

The killer marmoset finally and kicked Melgo out of the way. It landed on all fours and started running madly on its knuckles towards Marius, its teeth baring at the prince's face. Fortunately, it took the prince less time to come up with an idea than it did with the Wardeth problem. Without asking Ronilda's permission, he grabbed the Yang Yo-Yo from her clutches and flew straight towards the monster.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Ruby screamed.

Right when the killer marmoset made the jump, Marius spun the Yang Yo-yo at the beast. "YANG YO-YO!" A blue portal opened and the killer marmoset sucked its way into it, howling. Five seconds later, the portal reopened at the other end of the street. Ronilda snatched the Yang Yo-Yo back from Marius as they cautiously approached the creature. It didn't move.

"Did it get... chi switched?" Melgo asked cautiously. The beast stood up and slowly turned to face them... and ended up giving Marius a big bear hug while revealing that its fur/quills/ whatever were lighter, its armor white, and its eyes a screaming pink.

"Yeah... chi switched!" Marius gasped for air. "Please put me down!" The beast gleefully put Marius back on his feet, only to follow with it cuddling its head on him like a loving puppy. "Aw, you're such a big softie!" He scratched it behind the ear. "I know! How about I call you Mary? Like that?" 'Mary' nodded its head gleefully.

"Seriously?" Ronilda frowned. "We're going to save the world with... Mary the Killer Marmoset?"

 _Later_

Apparently they _were_ going to save the world with Mary the Killer, because Mary managed to bring them all the way to the hospital by swinging on the phone wires and carrying them all together in its big arms, including Marius despite the latter's ability to fly. By the time they reached the hospital's front doors, Melgo and Grey instantly raced for the bathrooms to throw up while the others raced to Penna's bedroom, where they found the place packed with doctors, Ben, Mal, Fairy Godmother, Shan Yu, Bayen, Bloodyle, and the finally awakened Penna.

The latter was in quite a state. While she did look like she gained enough physical energy, she still looked like a traumatized person with lack of sleep. Her hair was brushed down to the point that it no longer looked like a wavy cascade but a flat kitchen towel. Covered by a blue patient gown, her Caucasian skin made her look sick and weak. Her wings gone, her pointed ears gone... Marius was terrified of her looking so vulnerable.

"Penna?" Ruby was the first to react. "Wow, you look terrible!"

"I'm Penelope, not Penna." The daughter of the Dark Lord looked up and saw Mary standing behind Marius. "Marius... Why do you have one of the Simian Witch' killer marmosets?"

Mal blinked. "There's _no_ way that this thing is a marmoset!"

"We'll talk about Mary later!" Marius changed the topic. He held out his hand to Ronilda and she willingly placed the Yang Yo-yo in his hand.

"The Yang Yo-yo!" Shan-Yu gasped. "How did you find it?"

"Marius, what's going on?" Penelope looked at Marius with her pitiful eyes. The prince sighed and walked up to her.

"Pen... Penelope, this is all my fault," he said. "I thought I was freeing you from your hardships by getting rid of your Acupuncture Needles, but I've put you in far more trouble than your father destroying your Horcruxes and stripping you of your magic." He sighed. "I ended up giving the Simian Witch the opportunity she wanted. She stole the Saturnium, and if you don't use Ronilda's Yang Yo-Yo to get your powers back, she'll trade you a day of your life... just to erase you."

Penelope said nothing. She just looked at Marius, making him feel more ashamed than ever. Her body lifted itself slowly from the bed and she said stiffly to the others. "Leave us for a minute."

Normally, the others would have protested, but after seeing Bayen and Bloodyle give a small nod and make their way out, they followed them and closed the door behind them. Silence was left with Marius and Penelope, even the ventilation buzzing wasn't helping.

"I know, I'm an idiot," Marius said.

" _Big_ time." Penelope nodded, not in an angry way but in an agreeing tone.

"I honestly didn't want things to go this way, Penelope, I swear." He felt his hand clutching the yo-yo.

"Frankly, I should have seen this twist of fate coming. For years, I've expected Silvia and her allies to come for my head, but the fact that she stole the time traveling artifact... I didn't expect her to go _that_ far."

"I still can't believe she and Fancy Pants are related. They're... just nothing alike except for the eyes!"

"And the mental breakdowns," Penelope corrected. "Martin may have his father's physique, Chase Young's levels of handsomeness, and the powers are evenly shared in the three parties, but he definetly got his mother's psychological issues. They both have issues in accepting forgiveness and mentally breaking when things don't turn out the way they want to. Silvia never forgave me when I attacked her son, Martin still doesn't forgive for provoking Ruby's death, Silvia loses it whenever her minions don't do their work, and Martin has been losing it ever since the Pride Games went wrong. They also do insane things for the ones they love."

She stretched herself while Marius frowned. "Really? She has a funny way of showing it. She already thinks I'm not an obstacle."

Penelope stopped stretching and gave him a demanding scowl. "She... sort of sent a green alien and Mary the killer marmoset to finish me off. The alien's blinded and knocked out in a bowling alley and... I think I brainwashed Mary with the Yang Yo-yo."

"You're unbelievable."

"Hey, not my fault!" Marius snapped and shocked her. "You think I get this stuff on a regular basis? Exactly how many times do I go around with people underestimating me when it comes to protecting the ones I love?"

"Seriously? I told you we were done!"

"AND I'M DONE WITH YOU GIVING UP!" For the first time, Marius screamed as loud as she had to him back in the Tri-Relay. She began to tremble and understand the pain she must have put on him by pushing him away from her for what she thought was his own good. Marius walked over to her and held her chin his hand softly. "Look, I never gave up on you ever since the day we first met, and as much as you don't want to, we need to fix our mistakes." He showed her the Yang Yo-yo. "Get your powers back on your own, stop your father from invading Auradon with his army, don't give the Simian Witch a day of your past, and embrace change. Keep moving forward... and you could get the life you always wanted... with me." He said the last part hopefully.

Penna looked between Marius and the Yang Yo-Yo. It was obvious that she was still debating whether this was all a good idea, but lives were at stake. She took the artifact and took a deep breath.

"The moment I turn evil, you have to go fetch the Saturnium from Silvia. Don't stay put. Just go," she said.

"But I don't even know where her lair is," Marius said.

"You'll know in a moment. YANG YO-YO!" She spun the artifact and jumped inside the portal the moment it opened. Just like Mary, she jumped out once she reopened, but unlike Mary, she wasn't good anymore. She was now the tall, menacing lavender skinned witch with pointed ears, blue markings on her eyes, demonic wings, and an eccentric outfit. She wore a venom green medieval maiden dress made of leathered scales, a silk belt with printed slithering snakes, countless necklaces, purple cuff bracelets, golden loop earrings, and a purple crown with golden beads that made Penna look like she had snake eyes above that loose hair of hers.

Penna De Mort just stood there, saying nothing and holding her arms out like mummies in the clichéd monster movies until she agitated her hands and purple fire with teal smoke shaped like a cobra erupted from her sweat.

"I'M BACK!" She threw the fire at the door, exploding it into a billion pieces. Small flames came all over the room and Penna started to act like a maniac, moving her hands to make the fires change into serpentine shapes and nearly gave them flesh until Marius broke her fun with a forceful kiss.

 _ **Frankly, if the author of this story had any decency, she would have made Penna react violently (who'd be 'censored' crazy enough to kiss the Princess of Evil?), but the author has no morals.**_

The kiss calmed down the agitated sorceress and extinguished the fires after Marius pulled away. "I must admit I did not see that coming," Penna confessed.

"What? Me kissing you to calm you down?" Marius arched an eyebrow.

"No. I'm back as my usual self... and I don't feel like murdering you for displaying physical affection to me. Normally I'd rip kidneys when Bayen tried to do such things."

"Jolly, she's back."

They turned their heads and saw the others staring at them through the remains of the doorway. "Great, I did not realize this was a sitcom," Penna muttered.

" _Sister!_ " Bloodyle shrieked and threw her arms up in the air. Penna didn't hesitate and flew right at her sister to hug her, even after Bloodyle morphed into a basilisk to give her a tighter hug through her coils for the next minute until Bloodyle went back to humanoid.

"So De Mort has her powers," Shan Yu said. "Now what?"

"The battle of our lives." Penna stretched her knuckles. "What's-his-face will eventually find out in the next second that I'm alive and with my powers, so we'll have to duel each other to get it over while most of you either deal with his army or make sure that they don't break Kalai Tamatoa's chains. Knowing my creator, he'd be willing to release that sea monster and let her go on a rampage, devouring Auradonians and creating an earthquake for the Raft prisoners stuck on her back."

"And Martin's mother?" Ruby demanded. "In case you haven't noticed, she's hoping to change history by removing you."

"I'm so flattered!" Penna put a hand on her chest as if she were 'touched'. "I tried to kill you and yet you still don't want to kill me?"

"Sorry, not my style." The brunette shook her head. "Frankly, I don't give a damn about your fate. I just want Martin back in one piece and in better hands!"

"Well that's one thing we can agree on."

The sudden voice startled them to look at the end of the hallway. Minuit, Jessie, Feige, Dårlig, Indimia, Roedor, Brittany, Kit, and Junk hung out there but so did the nine SAP sorcerers holding them captive with different forms of weapons threatening to pierce their necks or skulls. The troupe's ringleader was at the very lead. Shan Yu had to restrain Ruby from wanting to make a run for it and punch the villainess.

"So you finally decided to break a nail and play dirty?" Marius asked in a snarky tone.

"Indeed. The only thing that annoys me as equally as witches trying to kill my son is a mortal _insect_ becoming a scarring obstacle in my plan!" The Simian Witch growled.


	40. It's Time For You To See

Chapter 40: It's Time For You To See

Do you ever wonder what it's like when you realize that the person you face is in fact the one fate has chosen to be your arch-nemesis to hate and fight? You get into one of those staring contests in which the opposing parties reveal their glares, both different in perspective and eager to crush the competition. You feel like your allies disappear into a fog surrounding you because the only thing you can focus on is the person destined for hatred and conflict. The blood in your veins starts to boil and your muscles pump like car wheels for a monster truck rally. All you can think about is that you met your arch-nemesis and you want to hurt that soul so badly.

The author shouldn't have to say much. The listed details were exactly what Prince Marius Bogfae and Silvia Winterfields the Simian Witch felt. It was bad enough that both parties already knew the existence of the other, but just the fact that it took one stare for them to hate each other on the spot...

"Normally I'd try to talk sense into people the first time I meet them, but knowing your resumé and your current dramatic setup, I'm just gonna go ahead to the part where I make you bleed." Marius shrugged as he cracked his knuckles.

The Simian Witch scowled in a mix of anger and mild impressment. "At least that saves us time," she agreed.

"Will you hurry it up, Silvia?" The redheaded witch holding Jessie captive grumbled. "I really want to start breaking necks!"

"Patience, Wuya." The Simian Witch held her hand up, demanding patience from her fellow witch. Her attention went back to the enemies and she made small, menacing steps towards them. Her high heels scratched the floor as she walked. "I'll make it easy and quick, De Mort. Surrender a day from your past and I won't kill your... what are they anyway? Lackeys? Minions?"

"My family." Penna crossed her arms and stood upright, unaffected by the blackmail.

The Simian Witch gave out an amused cackle, which was echoed by her comrades laughing as well. "Really? _You_ , a family? Last time I checked, you _ruin_ and _destroy_ families!" She hissed.

"Yes, and you do a _fantastic job_ at keeping yours!" Ruby retorted angrily. She opened up her hands, extracting her adamantium nails covered with purple nail polish but visibly still sharp. "Let me guess, your husband's back in your house because you don't want him seeing you being such a jerk? Or is because you're still busy with revenge than about the fact that _your_ son is in the Raft, being done God knows what by Penna's father?"

"Actually, it's both." The Simian Witch flicked her finger at Shan Yu's direction, sending him flying into the vendor machine. "Mind you, Monty is still into the Saturnium project with me, though it's true that fifty percent of him not being here is that he's still angry that I agreed with Riddle to let him use Martin..."

"Y **OU WHAT**?" Everyone except the members of the SAP exclaimed.

"Wait, you can't be serious!" Bayen said, baffled. " _You_ , the one witch crazy enough to defy time just to get back at the Lady, let the Dark Lord take your son?"

" _Well she had to,_ " the dark haired armored man holding Minuit captive said. Judging by the physical looks and the voice, it was very evident that he was Chelsey's father, Chase Young.

"You see, during my endless years of seeking payback, I figured out easily that De Mort inadvertently hosted her father's parasite soul, waiting to reincarnate himself into her when the Villains Comet came, and if that plan failed, he'd try to use the Raft villains for another attempt. Therefore, I had most of my SAP members and myself get purposely locked up in that underwater prison. That way, when the Third Sector villains were released and Tom Riddle tried to recruit the limited amount of wizards, I had him make a deal on the River Styx with me. We wouldn't get in each other's business as long as he could borrow Martin." She sighed and gave out a smug. "Honestly, letting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named use my perfect son to launch an invasion on Auradon is the perfect way to keep my enemies busy while I unleash my own plans."

"Well, aren't you Mom of the Year?" Marius rolled his eyes and spoke sarcastically. "I guess you and Penna's father aren't so different from each other when it comes to being horrible parents." He didn't even see it coming. Like vapor, the Simian Witch disappeared and reformed to face him with only twelve inches of separation. Twelve inches and she looked like she could bite him to shreds.

"There's a thin line between me and Riddle, smartass," she spat in a familiar tone. "He is heartless, I'm not. He just throws his brat into a snake pit like she wasn't worth it while I actually bothered waking up every three hours at night just to breastfeed mine! He promised a life of hatred for the pest while I promised my precious a path to _glory_! So please, don't even make comparisons!"

"It's hard to not do it when your 'precious' is being toyed around like some trinket in a flea market!"

"I'm sorry, but am I being lectured by a spoiled brat who carelessly thought that pulling a few needles would mean keeping his 'soulmate' around like some trophy bride?"

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty!" Ruby tried pushing them aside. "Can we go back to business?"

"Why? It's getting fun!" Penna smirked. Obviously she was enjoying the verbal insults her boyfriend and foe were lashing at each other.

"Enough! A day or your lackeys lose their heads!" The Simian Witch snapped her fingers and her allies pressed their weapons onto the young flesh harder.

"Sorry." Penna shrugged. "Not happening."

The Simian Witch scoffed and crossed her arms. "Why not? Are you so heartless, you'd let your own 'family' die?"

"No, but she's twisted enough to let me verbally stall you so that Jessie can lose her head mentally." Marius pointed behind the witch, and when she turned, she saw Jessie Joker laughing hysterically while spinning her head Exorcist style until her body started spinning like a drill. Wuya tried holding her down, but the clown girl was faster and grabbed Wuya by the wrists. She began swinging the old hag around like a club and began beating down the other SAP sorcerers, prompting them to let go of the other captives in order to defend themselves. It took Chase Young to morph into a lizard and separate Wuya and Jessie by swinging his tail down at them. Jessie was faster and let go of Wuya, causing the latter to get hit by Chase's tail. Her eyes looked like she never slept and her blonde-and-black streaked hair suddenly grew green dyes as well. Her skin was paler and her fingers made her look like she was ready to maul somebody.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ben exclaimed.

"What happened to the seniors?" Jessie pouted in a mocking tone. "Did they decide to go into retirement or do they just have lazy bones?"

Marius grinned while the Simian Witch and most of the good guys looked baffled. "Honestly, you who knows Penna _so well_ , you didn't see that coming? She's got a mental link with Jessie in order to control the kid's psychotic tendencies. You know, Joker and Harley Quinn's kid needs to be checked once in a while."

"When I'm 'good' she's calm and not hysterical like back in the Isle, but when I'm 'evil' she reverts to her murderous..." Penna said.

"And humorous!" Jessie shouted.

"And humorous tendencies," Penna agreed while giving out a smug grin at the Simian Witch. "Wow, I spend _so_ much time with the love of my life, I tell him about kids' disorders and he figures out a way to stall you in order to give my only Muggle kid the time to start treating your 'friends' like a bunch of punching bags! And he didn't even tell me he was going to do such a thing!"

Now the Simian Witch was losing it. She shouted: "CIVILITIES ARE OVER!" The moment her hands flared up with red energy, the other SAP sorcerers attacked as. The Simian Witch was first to attack, throwing a red blast at the Auradonian, but Penna blocked by shouting ' _Crucio!_ ' and the two witches opposing red and teal blasts found themselves clashing on who would be triumphant. Bloodyle and Mal morphed into their basilisk and dragon states in order to confront Chase Young and Wuya. One of the other SAP sorcerers, a white haired witch named Icy, threw a freezing spell at Feige, who managed to avoid being frozen when Dårlig used his knife to reflect the beam towards a young sorcerer who happened to be the son of Icy, Fuar. "OK, that's cold!" He complained.

 _Bug Fly,_ Marius was meanwhile hearing Penna's voice in his head while the battling oddly seemed to come to a halt around him. _Go downstairs, quick!_

 _And leave you alone to face them_? Marius was confused as to why he understood her through telepathy, but he didn't have time ask such questions.

 _I already told you. You need to get the Saturnium away from the Simian Witch. Leave this area instantly and do whatever it takes to reach her lair in Isla Simia in the east!_ Penna said.

 _But..._

"I GET IT! WILL YOU STOP SCREAMING IN MY HEAD?"

Everyone briefly paused in their fighting and gave confused looks at Ronilda, who looked like she was screaming to herself. She scowled at the Simian Witch. "Will you **stop** teaching Monkey Boy to speak in my head? I'm going to end up with mental problems!"

"How about a head crush that will send you to your grave?" The sorceress threw a flaming fist at Ronilda. Mary instantly grabbed Ronilda out of the way, making the witch punch and crack a window. "You _traitor!_ " She snarled at the reformed killer marmoset.

"HA! You broke the glass!" Marius shouted as he guided Mary to follow him and make a run for it. "Seven years bad luck! IN! _YOUR!_ _ **FACE!**_ "

"That's for mirrors, you darn idiot!" That was the last thing Marius heard as he flew out of the hospital, grabbing the surprised Melgo and Grey by the arms, with Mary and Ronilda following along.

"What's going on?" Grey exclaimed as they proceeded to use high altitude as they made their escape.

"Long story short, Fancy Pants' crazy mother and her pals are having a bloody party with the others!" Marius shouted.

"Speaking of Fancy Pants, the guy is giving me headaches with spiritual messages!" Ronilda gasped for air while Mary carried her. "Apparently having Mystical Monkey Power allows bearers to communicate with each other spiritually, and Martin has been trying to scream at me inside my head 'I'm stuck in the Raft! Help! The Dark Lord is trying to make his personal monstrous general! FYI, a No Face ghost gave me a vision about me and the Simian Witch being my mother!'"

"Wait!" Marius looked at her. "Is he still talking to you?"

"Sorry!" Ronilda shook her head. "Apparently he was in a trance while reaching out to me and he was being forcefully awakened, cutting us off! And there's no way that I'm getting another headache with one of his calls!"

"So what's the plan now?" Melgo asked.

"Getting the Saturnium away from the Simian Witch, but for that we need to go to Isla Simia..." Marius got cut off when a distant explosion made an echoing exploding sound. When they turned their heads, they saw a cloud of smoke made of ghostly red howling monkeys making a tornado out of where the hospital was located.

"M...Maybe we should resort to going underground?" Grey suggested.

Just then, a nightingale's voice was heard whistling the tune of 'Can't Stop The Feeling'. Just below them, sticking her head from underneath a manhole near a small church, Gladiola Trollkonge was whistling to them and waving her spare hand, gesturing them to come and hide. They took their way and made their way down. One by one, they followed Gladiola inside the manhole, taking a while for Mary to squeeze in, and concealed themselves from the outside world.

"What the Hell is this?" Melgo frowned when she touched the walls and felt its odd, carpet fuzzy texture. The others looked around and saw that instead of being in the sewers, they were in some sort of neat tunnel lit by torches. It was like being in a baby-proof underground playground.

"Is this another one of your highly camouflaged, heavily guarded, danger-proof survival bunkers, Glady?" Ronilda asked.

"Yep," Gladiola said with a smug on her face. "I always make a series of annexed bunkers underneath the cities I'm in in case of an apocalypse. Welcome to Bunker 23, type magic apocalypse!"

"You have a bunker in case there's a magic apocalypse?" Marius frowned.

"Yeah, aside from being busy posing as Pride Queen during charity events, I bothered to dig and construct a bunch of bunkers annexed to each other. My parents are currently using the other tunnels to evacuate the other Troll teens back to Bergen Town until this entire fiasco is over."

Marius suddenly got an idea. "You wouldn't happen to have tunnels that go as far as the east, would you?"

"Depends," Gladiola crossed her arms. "Where do you want to go?"

"The Simian Witch's lair on Isla Simia. Problem is, I don't know where it is."

"I do!" Ronilda pulled up her phone and did some quick adjustments before showing them a Red X on a map of the Atlantic Ocean. "Back in Yamanouchi, I found out that the Simian Witch and her ancestors conceived most of their world domination schemes on Isla Simia. Just above Brazil and go east from Puerto Rico and you'll find her island right where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean!"

"Well what do you know?" Gladiola clapped her hands. "I happen to have a tunnel that leads to Puerto Rico..." Cue to the confused glares. "What? Do you have any idea of how Mr. Barkin's history classes are boring?"

"And my dad has this Bueno Nacho yacht at a Puerto Rico port that we could use to the island," Ronilda added. The others, excluding Melgo, gave her a 'seriously' glare as well. "What? My dad is trying to see that Bueno Nacho also becomes a restaurant accessible for all merchant ships in the seven seas!"

"We'd better hurry then," Marius said. "Gladiola, can you guide us?"

"One trip to save the world, coming right up!" Gladiola pulled out her Torch of Happiness and led the way. "By the way, don't be surprised if this starts to become a musical excursion."

 _Meanwhile_

Ruby didn't remember much on how she got unconscious in the first place during the hospital battle, but one thing was certain. One of the SAP sorcerers must have hit her with some sort of unconsciousness spell, preventing her from fighting. Honestly, with all the blackouts she endured during her quest last year, falling into darkness was second nature to her.

Except second nature didn't have such a strong scent of Earl Grey stinging her nostrils, prompting her to jump and sit uncomfortably. When her eyes opened, she saw that her hands and ankles were trapped in cuffs. "Shit," she grumbled. The cuffs were too strong for her to even extract her nails out.

"Save your energy, Rebecca." Ruby looked up and saw Martin's mother standing firmly in front of a pair of staircase that led to an altar holding a glowing orb. The girl gasped when she realized that orb was holding some sort of... moving image?

"You... how did you manage to take the day when Penna killed Mandire?" Ruby gasped. "There's no way she'd willingly give you up that day, even if you tried blackmailing!"

"You're right." The Simian Witch shrugged as she spun a spoon into a black cup of steaming tea. Ruby wanted to scream, for she recognized the scent as her boyfriend's favorite tea flavor. "After the pest and her insect of a boyfriend made it evident that they were too wily at outsmarting me in my own games, I realized that I couldn't get De Mort into directly giving me her day willingly. But then I remembered from my husband's letters to me about your... particular encounter in Riddle's Graveyard Post. I put you in an unconscious so that I could penetrate your mind, and surprisingly enough, I found that the hallucination you had in the madhouse gave me straight access to Penna's subconscious. Long story short, I ran into the manifestation of Penelope and offered her a chance to relieve her of the pain she endured for too many decades. The chance of a happy ending she dreamed off without her father ruining the picture. A life... when she never turned evil."

"I'm getting confused," Ruby frowned. "You said you wanted to erase Penna from existence, so why are you acting like you're helping her?"

"Think for a moment, Rebecca. Penna De Mort and Penelope Marvolo Svjetla Riddle are completely two different entities. One is a memory scarring the world while the other is... something ignored. I plan on _erasing_ Penna De Mort by making sure Penelope _never_ turns evil."

"So your plan is to go back in time to the day when Voldemort tricked Penna into killing her first crush?" Ruby arched an eyebrow. "I'm just shocked that you haven't thought of something like stopping her birth or something."

"Newsflash, the De Mort clan kill babies, I don't." The witch sipped her tea, not making one gulping or slurping sound as the hot liquid went into her mouth. Seriously, how did she manage to make drinking such a quiet activity?

"So," Ruby looked around the red 'chamber' they were in, "why am I your prisoner?"

"Funny you should ask." The woman smirked as she crushed her cup and reduced it to dust. "It didn't occur to my husband that before he went to join me in my island, he should have brought along our son's desired intended, so before I went with a little ragtag team during my current visit to Auradon, he made me promise on the River Styx that you wouldn't get killed or even scratched during the conflicts."

Ruby was shocked. Monkey Fist had made the sorceress swear to keep her alive? The questions kept burning while the Simian Witch paced around. "You know, I had every right for trying to kill the Stoppable brat for having an hours-long affair with Martin, but it's evident that he was wiser with his _second_ choice." Out of nowhere, Silvia crept behind the couch that Ruby was on. The girl almost yelped when she felt the witch's fingers running through her hair. "Yes, you really are like a younger me."

"We're... nothing alike," Ruby stammered.

"You'd be surprised on how you're wrong," the Simian Witch chuckled as the room suddenly darkened.

"Incoming song from the villain," Ruby sighed in a déjà vu tone.

The Simian Witch: _You'd think we're nothing alike_

 _You'd think that we can't relate._

 _But pop that bubble of yours_

 _Because there won't be another debate._

 _We've both wished for happiness_

 _That would end our miseries._

 _But those sweet moments ended_

 _When a pest used her witcheries._

 _It's time for you to see-ee-ee!_

Red flaming torches that put a light on the sorceress' silhouette suddenly illuminated the dark chamber.

The Simian Witch: _There's not much difference between you and I,_

 _Aside from me being mighty_

 _And you trapped in the lie._

 _It's time for you to see-ee-ee!_

 _Don't let the pain just easily fly._

 _So stay with me, and agree,_

 _Won't you little one?_

 _It's time for you to see!_

Ruby didn't know if it was the Simian Witch touching her in the dark, but the moment she felt something on her forehead, she saw a series of memories. She was shocked to find them to be memories she hardly recalled: the rare memories of her, as a baby, living with her two parents back in Gotham. And then there were the memories she _definetly_ never had, but that's because they belonged to the sorceress, in time where she was younger and without scars and she and Monkey Fist happily celebrated Martin's birth with some of the other SAP sorcerers, who swooned and cooed at the precious baby.

The Simian Witch: _You and I both had families_

 _That just seemed so perfect._

 _Close to the ones that we love,_

 _Harmony feels so correct._

The memories then got darker, with Ruby's parents fighting to the point that Catwoman ran away with the baby and the Simian Witch, Chase Young, Wuya, and Icy bursting inside a nursery to find the infant Martin crying in his crib and his screams unleashing an amount of unstable magical energy while a menacing shadow threatened him with a dagger. For a moment, the link between these memories was that the shadow was actually Penna De Mort while she mentally diseased Catwoman and when she tried to kill Martin.

The Simian Witch: _But then that harmony ended_

 _When a common pest came to plague us all._

 _We were divided from those we care_

 _Because she placed on us a wall._

More memories flashed in Ruby's mind, from her miserable youth as a street rat in Gotham to her brief death at the hands of Voldemort-reincarnated- in Penna, from the Simian Witch having to stay away from her family while protecting them from the outside to her crying from years through letters from her husband and using her powers to see her son grow up... without his mother.

The Simian Witch: _And as you see life fly by_

 _While you're isolated within the dark,_

 _You finally come to understand_

 _The fault goes to the pest and her mark._

 _It's time for you to see-ee-ee!_

 _There's not much difference between you and I,_

 _Aside from me being mighty_

 _And you trapped in the lie._

Ruby looked up. The Simian Witch put a hand on the girl's back and gently ushered her towards an opening of light.

The Simian Witch: _It's time for you to see-ee-ee!_

 _Let the truth come into your eye._

 _So stay with me, and agree,_

 _Won't you little one?_

 _It's time for you to see!_

 _It's time for you to see!_

Ruby blinked for a moment until the light cleared down and she wasn't too blind to see that she was on some sort of ship sailing on the blue sea. No sign of civilization or land was in sight.

Except for a giant green island with a giant stone castle as its main attraction and a protective force field.

"Welcome to Isla Simia, Rebecca." The Simian Witch kept her grasp on Ruby. "It's about time you spent some quality time with your future mother-in-law."


	41. Sewer Fight and Isla Simia

Chapter 41: Sewer Fight and Isla Simia

Martin woke up to the foul stench of dead fish grease. Since Bevalheath was carrying him on the shoulders, the moment Martin began to agitate, the boys took an unexpected bath made of dirty green water.

"What in the..." Martin looked around. They looked like they were in this semi-arched tunnel that was just tall enough for them to stand up and have their heads kiss the ceiling. The metal walls were stained in dark green and door sized openings were pouring with mucky green water that went downstream. "Are we in a sewer?"

"Yeah." Alva helped him get up. "You-Know-Who's lackeys finally get that you're loose. They forced all forms of transportation to shut down while Zeniko Zemo and the rest of the ZAM Trio inspect everyone."

"I hope Scarlett and Jawseph are OK," Lonnie said worriedly.

"They should be." Carly pinched her nose. "Ugh! The underground purification chutes are smellier than I imagined!"

"Purification chutes?" Martin looked around again with skepticism. "I see nothing pure about it."

"These underground tunnels purify the used water of the sectors before spitting it back in the ocean," Alva explained. "It's not practical, but if we use the chutes, we can avoid the commotion of above and ditch the border patrol in order to make it to the subs!"

"Charming..." Martin kicked off the slime he stepped in. Frustrated by how the stuff made the fabric on his boots tight, he sat down and got rid of them. "Finally!" He threw away the boots, and gloves while he was at it, and was the first to walk ahead. "Shall we?"

"How can you walk barefoot in this...this..." Carly shuddered as she ditched a chute before it could hit her with spiting water.

"My best friend's a mutated fish, I get used swimming in mud."

Surprisingly, for someone who despised the Raft the most among the visitors, he seemed to have the least problem walking in dirty sewage water with his toes wiggling in the bacteria infested masses. Living for months in the Isle, occasionally being dipped in the Tarrian River, and naturally going to those disgusting waters of Lake Wannaweep that Gilliard enjoyed swimming him had given Martin the habit of walking in mud. Then again, for someone with aristocratic upbringing like him, he had the least trouble went it came to being or fighting dirty.

They walked down the tunnel, made a couple turns, and came to a stop. They had arrived in this large semi dome where the filthy currents were being dragged into this one whirlpool shaped like a donut. As the green waters got pulled into the whirlpool and took a few spins, their sick color were lost before they formed one blue, clear current that headed in one same direction.

"The Purification Room," Alva said.

"I'm guessing that's where they clean the polluted water before sending it back in the ocean?" Lonnie guessed.

"Yep." Alva pointed at the donut whirlpool. "See that? The whirlpool has enough power to drag in all the currents and cleanse them with sanitizing chemicals. It's like washing clothes in the laundry machine, except the water comes out clean before the fish can swim. But the currents are also dangerous. Unlike the galleries we just went through, the whirlpool is close to twice the depth of a public pool, so even though they're are underwater fences to keep solid objects from going in, it's ill-advised to swim in it... and die."

"So how do we get across?" Bevalheath asked.

"We don't." Alva then pointed upward. They brought their heads up and notice an air ventilation shaft. "This air ventilation shaft leads straight into the Pipe Maze of the Third Sector. All we need to do is have Martin do a superhuman jump into the whirlpool's donut hole with a rope tied around his waist, then he'll make the jump into the shaft, where he'll use the rope to bring us up!"

"Dude, how long have you made this plan?" Bevalheath asked in amazement.

"Eh, I work a lot on my escape plans ever since I came to the Raft, so I had to analyze the place." He pulled a rope from within his jacket and tightly wrapped one end around Martin's waist before tying the other one of underwater fence bars near him. Judging by how he struggled to eventually tie the rope onto the first bar, it was clear that the currents were too strong for him. "OK, time for you to make the big jump."

Martin nodded and took a few steps back. He positioned himself to run.

"Help! Someone help me!"

They frowned and saw somebody emerge from the whirlpool. A girl struggling to keep her hold on the donut hole.  
"Princess Audrey?" Alva frowned.

"Help me! Amira captured me and threw me in here! I'm drowning!"

Martin and Lonnie looked at each other, crossed their arms, and gave 'Audrey' a dry glare. "Sorry, but the real Audrey would _never_ allow herself to get thrown in a sewer, even if she were offered a million dollars!" Lonnie shouted.

"I bet she would if she were ordered to!" The fake Audrey jumped back in the whirlpool. To everyone's shock, her silhouette had no problem piercing through the vicious currents. Then the rope got pulled and Martin got dragged into the water.

"Martin!" They all shouted.

Martin held his breath once he found himself in the clear underwater hell he was in. With all his channeled focus, his Mystical Monkey Power created a bubble to insulate his head into a pocket of air. The rope was the only thing keeping him from being dragged into the currents... The waters then suddenly calmed down. Martin tried swimming back to the surface, but then something grabbed him by the legs and tried to sink Martin further own.

Martin wrestled the beast, which turned out to be the fake Audrey. " _Care to go for a swim?_ " She taunted with a voice that suddenly turned masculine. Her body turned into solid glass that shattered into a muscular boy of his age, with cream colored skin, pale blond curly hair that reached his shoulders, a one shoulder tank top matching the colors of the clear water and accompanied by a blue shoulder plate, red battle cuff bracelets, and a blue-and-pink starfish ornament on his hair. But the most disturbing part? He had a cyan blue fish tail instead of legs.

"Pool's closed!" Martin grabbed the merman's arms and flipped him over, the latter stuck his hands on the walls to balance himself. _OK, how do I fight a half-human, half-fish..._ His mind paused when he recalled a trick Gilliard taught him on how to catch the large game. Martin grabbed the rope and started removing it from his waist. Right when the other guy started swimming at him, he swam behind the merman and wrapped the guy's wrists with the rope. After a few more wraps around the ankles, he managed to tighten the rope even further by using a monkey fist knot. Ironic, right?

The moment the merman stopped paying attention on Martin in order to worry about escaping his condition, Martin swam back to the surface.

"Martin!" Lonnie shouted.

Martin gasped for air. "There's some blonde merman trying to drown me!"

"Cyrus Dyris!" Carly exclaimed.

"You mean the son of that mermaid who tried to flood the world?" Lonnie asked.

"Look, I don't know how long we have until this Cyrus comes up, but I used the rope to keep him busy! We need to swim to the donut hole!"

"But Bevalheath and I can't swim!" Carly shook her head.

"Well it's time to learn!" Lonnie took a deep breath and jumped in the water. It took her only thirty seconds for her to swim at full-speed and reach the donut hole. "C'mon! You can do it!"

"Take Carly, I'll take care of Bevalheath." Martin told Alva.

Alva nodded and jumped in the water. Carly looked anxiously at the water before agreeing to hang on to Alva's back while he swam like a frog, taking him longer than it took Lonnie to reach their goal. The poor girl instantly ran to the dry spot in paranoia, you'd think she had just been asked to swim in a geyser.

"Alva, use your circuits to bring the girls up, we're on our way!" Martin almost regretted having Bevalheath riding his back. The latter must have weighed at least two pounds more than he did, so it took longer for him to swim them across. Meanwhile, Alva used the living wires on his outfit to create a ladder for them to use to reach the air vent. Though it caused the girls to get their hair frizzled, courtesy of the electricity.

"Dude, hurry up!" Bevalheath shouted as he looked nervously at the water.

"I'm doing my best!" Martin coughed out some water out of his mouth. Then, just like that, Bevalheath kicked himself off Martin and plunged into the water. Wondering what the hell went wrong in that boy's head, Martin sank his head underwater... and saw Bevalheath tackling down Cyrus, who had somehow managed to escape his bond, at the risk of drowning. Getting the fact that Bevalheath was giving Martin time to escape at the cost of his life, Martin swam right to the donut hole and got up the ladder.

"Speed it up, Bevalheath is distracting Cyrus!" He shouted. He and Alva finally got inside the air vent.

"But what about Bevalheath?" Carly exclaimed. "The currents might turn back on!"

Alva merely shook his head. Carly lowered her head and bit her lip to avoid crying. After Lonnie gave her a comforting pat on the back, the remaining four went on to crawl through the air vent, getting a shower from the dripping leaks that covered the ceiling. Meanwhile, in the distance, waves were crashing ferociously.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Alva finally cut the silence after five or ten minutes of crawling. "Cyrus and his mother are part of SAP. If the SAP is out there, why are these two _here_?"

"Maybe the Simian Witch had them stay as spies? You know, to make sure that the Dark Lord doesn't do any funny business to make sure that..." Carly paused when she noticed Martin's surprisingly broken expression. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't want to stir up any possible conclusions," he said, "but I'm developing a bad theory that the Simian Witch might actually be my mother."

"Martin, that's not possible." Lonnie shook her head. "You killed your mother and got your mark of villainy because of it, remember?"

"That Yuki, the Kaonashi, would disagree. She showed me a vision of Marius saying that the Simian Witch wanted to dispose of him... and Ronilda said she knew the Simian Witch was my mother. I only met the Simian Witch once, and that was shortly after my breakup after Ronilda. She... never told me personally that we were related..."

"But it would make sense." Alva nodded. "Remember the story? After Penna tried to attack her baby, the Simian Witch had to leave him and her husband in order to protect them from the outside. I could guess easily that her husband was Monkey Fist."

"A megalomaniac monkey-obsessed archaeologist and a sorceress who happens to perform Monkey Witchcraft?" Carly polished her glasses with her shirt's fabric. "As crazy as it sounds, they sound like a perfect match."

"Yeah, and it means that I killed someone I was lied about," Martin fell into guilt.

"Martin, be reasonable! This doesn't add up!" Lonnie protested. "If the Simian Witch was your mother, then why hasn't she told you so when you met her? Heck, after you and the VKs officially settled in Auradon, there's been nothing you needed for protection! Penna wasn't going to kill you anymore, she could have just visited you like the other parents did!"

"But that's the thing, Lonnie!" Alva said in realization. "The Simian Witch isn't in a rush to claim him because she's more busy fulfilling her need- and the rest of the SAP's- to dispose Penna De Mort. As long as Penna De Mort lives, the Simian Witch doesn't think that she can be with her family. If she gets rid of that _one_ obstacle, she can finally be with her family, but until then..."

"Not to mention that she seemed to have no problem deserting the Raft while He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named 'borrowed' her son." Carly scowled and looked at Martin with sympathy. "I'm very sorry. I thought _my_ mom was terrible, but I guess I was wrong."

Martin sighed. "Well we can say she has the sole redeeming quality of not abandoning me for the reasons claimed in my past." He shook his head and moved ahead. "Look, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get back to Auradon! Ruby still owes me a 'yes' or 'no'!"

"You asked her?" They all asked in excitement. They took a stop and Alva worked on pooping one of the air vents open.

"I did, but she said she needed time," Martin said. "I don't know what could be worse. Her saying 'no' or we all die and I never get to know the answer."

"Oh, she's got to tell you 'yes'! Otherwise Radiance and I have been making the Team Muby T-Shirts for nothing!" Lonnie said.

"Team Muby?" Carly asked. "Is this one of those shipping names where you combine the names or this a new commercial brand for dairy ice cream?"

"The first." Lonnie clapped her hand. "We have managed to sell hundreds of those T-Shirts all over the world via Internet shipping. Surprisingly, we got the most buyers from the Netherlands!"

"And this is how you spend your Friday nights with your boyfriend's cousin?" Martin scowled. "Making Team Muby clothing?"

"What? I do things other than dating my immortal boyfriend who keeps getting stuck in a distressful coma!"

"Uh, guys?" Alva looked nervously through the air vent that he just popped open successfully. His electric hair vibrated a bit the same way a spine shivers in fright. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we're in the area of the Pipe Maze. The bad news, we're in the Simian Witch's old cell."

"Well that shouldn't be a problem." Carly pushed him out of the way and stepped out. "I'm mean, it's not like..." Her voice trailed off instantly. The others stepped out instantly and found themselves in a strange dome made of grey metal. Red light appeared to be glowing from behind the tiles, emitting a heat wave that made the temperature somewhere close to 89 degrees. No door could be seen.

The center held the scariest exhibition: a rack, just like the ones they had in medieval times to torture slaves or prisoners, only it was made of the same metal. A person, wearing nothing but torn jeans, was strapped by chains that made him appear as Jesus being crucified rather than being strapped on a rack. A tube coming from the ceiling had been forced into his mouth and red liquid was pouring out of it in a slow, but deadly flow.

"AARON!" Carly ran and grabbed the tube, yanking it away from Aaron Duncan. While the liquid kept pouring and staining the floor, Aaron coughed badly, spitting out the stuff that was forced in him. "God, it's blood! They tried to make him drink blood!"

"Is that just the ZAM-Trio's way of torturing people or was it really how they imprisoned the Simian Witch?" Lonnie asked. Martin used his claws to pick on the locks, releasing Aaron from his bonds. The latter sat up and rubbed his reddened wrists. Indifference must have vanished from his body because he now looked like a traumatized man.

"You... have to go..."

"Aaron, it's OK. We're here..." Carly cupped his cheek. He stiffened at the touch and brushed her hand away.

"Carly, you guys... can't stay here."

"We're working on our escape, but we're not leaving without you," Carly shook her head. "You-Know-Who and the ZAM-Trio won't harm you once we leave and help Auradon stop him from invading."

Aaron kept shaking his head. "You don't get it. The snake wizard freak... is not the enemy." He turned his head, frowned, and pointed a blaming finger at Martin. "The witch who gave birth to you. _She's_ the real enemy!"

"So the Simian Witch _really_ is my mother." Martin said. "I don't see though how she can be worse than De Mort's father."  
Aaron snickered as if Martin had told him a humorous joke. "You don't get it, do you? _She's_ the one with all the powerful ancient magic that he doesn't have. _She's_ the one who's strongest when she has something she desires and protects. _She's_ the one who purposely allowed herself to spend years in this cell while he played parasite. _She_ is the real villain."

"Long story short?" Alva asked.

Aaron groaned. "Dudes, the Simian Witch is the real problem, not the guy whose name starts with V! I mean, does it make sense to you that powerful villains like Chase Young or Wuya or Oogie Boogie or Hannibal Roy Bean or others I won't list would side with her rather than the darkest wizard of all times?"

"Well, when you put it that way, no." Lonnie shook her head as a blushing Carly helped Aaron get back on his feet.

"Yeah, V-Name also came up with the assumption, especially when he recently sensed that something got stolen from the Department of Mystics and that just a while ago, his daughter just got a day of her past stolen. He tried to have me interrogated since I used to be the one delivering food to the witch back in the old days, but I didn't crack." He covered his eyes with his hand. "He even killed my father to try to get to me, but when I admitted that I knew nothing..."

Carly silenced him with a small kiss on his cheek. Unable to hold himself much longer, Aaron finally broke into tears for the first time. And for the first time, he shared a hug. With Carly. Martin gave her a small 'nice save' glance.

"Penna's dad must suspect that the Simian Witch is up to something..." Lonnie rubbed her chin in thought. "What if she's working on her own scheme right now that she knows that neither Penna's dad nor Auradon would suspect because they will be busy fighting each other!"

"And she left some of her goons to lurk around the Raft to make sure that nobody in the De Mort Senior zone does anything fishy." Aaron broke up the hug with Carly. "From the smell of it, I can tell you ran into Cyrus Dyris."

"Yeah..." Carly and Alva put mourning hands on their chests. "We lost Bevalheath."

"Shame. He was a great guy." Aaron nodded his head. "But that's besides the point. There's two other SAP moles and their job is to make sure that you don't leave the Raft and that they play the role of helping You-Know-Who in his schemes so that the witch goes along with whatever she is doing."

Martin then growled in anger. "I don't suppose that one of those moles happens to be a green-haired freak with bad skin issues."

"Well, I am offended."

A green fire appeared out of nowhere. By the time it died out, two hated sorcerers appeared. Amira Fattura, who smirked at them while her hands were burning with green magic, and Corbeau Roth Logan. His hood was pulled down, his composure was stiff, his arms were crossed... and he had an unusual evil smile crossed on his lips. Basically, he would have been Martin's evil clone.

"Granted, the green hair was unwanted, but the skin? Why, Fiske, I hope you aren't racist!" Corbeau said, amused.

"No, I'm more of an aristocratic brat, but _you..._ " Martin clenched his fists, and this time, he wasn't surprised if they were burning red. "You broke Ruby's heart, you let her rot on the Isle as if she were going to a mental hospital for rehabilitation, you expect her to just _waltz_ back to you while she's moved on with _me_ , and now you play Death Eaters by helping De Mort's father capture me, you betray your fellow antiheroes, and now you help my mom by making me _stay here_? WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON?"

"Hm. None." Corbeau chuckled and shrugged. "I mean, I side with only _myself_. You see, unlike most of my 'fellow antiheroes' or those trapped here on this underwater prison, I've completely embraced my dark sides. My mother's demonic heritage and my father's inner beast... I could channel them enough to make myself evil while appearing to be one of the good guys."

"I'll say." Amira nodded.

"I'm guessing you're only here because the Simian Witch is better than You-Know-Who?" Lonnie asked Amira.

"That, and also because she promised me that her plan would set things right," Amira said. "No extra details needed."

"We've all got our reasons for being wild cards, Fiskes," Corbeau continued to address Martin. "But naturally, you know I'll keep being as such until I finally have what I want. And you know what I want."

Martin clenched his teeth and fists, increasing the red flames. Anger boiled within and he roared, summoning a large red aura around him and charged at Corbeau, leading his friends to attack as well.

" **I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU** _ **EVEN**_ **TRY TO TOUCH A HAIR ON RUBY**!"

 _Meanwhile_

"You're alright, Silvia?" Wuya asked the Simian Witch when the latter's hair suddenly spiked up and a red glow briefly flashed through her skin. Ruby kind of felt the witch's odd shivering while the latter kept her grasp on Ruby's shoulder.

"My Mystical Monkey Power senses are tingling. Either there's an issue with the barrier or... I hope you remembered that your brats aren't supposed to mess with my husband while I'm gone!" She told her SAP members.

"Don't look at me, I was with the grown ups!" Fuar held his hands up in defense.

"Yes, you were busy getting your butt frozen by a puny Bergen and his knife!" His mother snapped at him. Fuar just shrugged like it was nothing. Now that he was bringing it up, Ruby dreaded what happened to the others back in Auradon. The Simian Witch still wouldn't tell her if she spared them or if she killed them.

The woman barked at half of her ragtag team to check the barrier's perimeter to ensure that no enemy was sneaky enough to trespass when the force field was removed to let the ship in. While that half went off, the other headed off the port and into the jungle. Aside from her and the Simian Witch, Ruby noticed the presences of Chase Young, Wuya, Magica De Spell, and Kaecilius.

"Tensions are stirring up on the Raft," Chase Young grimaced. "Dyris' son is dead."

"Great." The Simian Witch grew a sour expression on her face. "How do you expect me to tell Dyris her son died?"

"Maybe the sooner you tell her, the better?" Ruby suggested drily.

"Insolent Muggle!" Magica almost pulled her wand out of her sleeve until Chase grabbed her by the wrist and tightened it. Ruby felt uneasy. She could have sworn that she heard bones crack, and it did not help that 'Silvia' still held her tightly by the shoulder.

"Your disgust towards humans is understandable, Magica, but I believe it has been made clear when Silvia threatened to feed anyone who dares attack her guests to the mandrills," he said firmly.

"The mandrills?" Ruby only remembered the species from the encyclopedias that the Fiskes kept back at their castle. Otherwise, she didn't recall seeing any mandrills among the monkey ninjas.

"Trust me, they're ugly!" Wuya told Ruby. "Silvia recently threw Wardeth in there. Only his green hide remains. They ate everything else." She shuddered. "Not even the bones were left."

Ruby tensed. Wardeth, the alien who had been sent to dispose of Marius and who got a serious beating... was dead. This made Ruby look down at her adamantium nails. The stains of his bloods were still dried up on the metal even though it must have been hours since she poked his eyeball. The threat of the mandrills and the reminder of Wardeth's fate was enough for Magica to gulp and say that she got the message. From Ruby's perspective, it meant that whoever was labeled as 'friend' to the Simian Witch also meant that she could easily killed them off one by one. Friendship wasn't magic on this island.

They went further into the jungle until they reach the main clearing where the castle stood. The building was rather massive, at twice the height and size of Ben's castle back in Auradon, and made of red clay stone structured into the appearance of an Eastern temple. Vines curled their way up the stones, towers were numbered by the twenties, and one large area was nothing but rumble. Based on the grim looks the sorcerers all had when they passed the rumble and climbed up the stairs, Ruby guessed that this must have been the section where Penna and the Simian Witch had their battle the night Penna tried to kill the infant Martin.

Statues and wall carvings of monkeys or ape-like warriors killing humans came into view. Two guards came into view and almost frightened Ruby. She shouldn't be afraid since they were humans with monkey limbs, but their basketball player heights, the thick muscles, and the menacing red Aztec armor were scary in the sense that they could crush your bones.

"Mistress." They both bowed. The sorceress gave them a contemplating nod as the group headed into the castle's main outdoor court, which looked like one red graveyard full of monkeys roaming freely.

"Yeah, this is definetly the kind of house the Fiskes would live in," Ruby shrugged.

"Thank you," the Simian Witch said as if Ruby had just complimented her. Right then, a wall bursted into pieces and two girls were seen tackling each other, either with kung fu moves or by blasting magic at each other.

The Simian Witch turned to face Chase. "Should I do the usual scolding or will you take care of it?"

"Allow me." He instantly teleported down there and separated the two girls, one them being Chelsey. "CHELSEY! How many times do I have to tell you that fighting or training in the Memorial Site is forbidden? Or do I need to deprive you of Lao Mang Lone Soup to express this further?" He barked.

"But Father!" Chelsey complained and pointed at the other girl. "Hanna started it!"

"Keep dreaming, Lizard Breath!" Hanna shouted in a Southern accent.

"Pink Mutated Bean!"

"Then take it outside!" Chase lifted up the two girls and threw them up in the air. Even the monkeys stopped their activities to see the screaming girls fly up the castle's stone wall and land somewhere in the jungle, only for their bickering to echo again.

"That's some good aim," Ruby admitted.

"You're not even shocked that chase threw his own daughter a dozen miles away like a dodge ball?" The Simian Witch asked.

"Honestly, with the things I've seen until now, _nothing_ surprises me. Well, maybe except the fact that my boyfriend's mother is a homicidal maniac."

"Monkey Fist was a megalomaniac _before_ he even met her," Kaecilius cleared his throat. "It was pretty much marrying off Pure Evil with Sadism Incarnate."

"Kaecilius, please go make sure that nobody's trespassing via the Mirror Dimension," the Simian Witch asked rather politely. The sorcerer nodded and made a circular motion with his fingers and opened and suddenly moved forward, the environment moving around him like disoriented glass until he disappeared.

"OK, that's something that actually surprises me," Ruby said.

"The Mirror Dimension," Wuya said with glee. "You ought to see it sometimes. You actually get to crush nations together and twist the rules of nature when you can't do it in the real world!"

"And in the real world, we're wondering if whether or not your son did his job." The Simian Witch snapped her out of her fantasy.

"You're right." Wuya marched away in a hurry, which reminded Ruby a bit of how Sean Abyss used to march away in a huff whenever his sisters exasperated him. "Last thing I want is for Hanlin to start making a mess as usual."

The Simian Witch just gave a simple look at Magica. "You know what? I'm just going to make sure they're doing well with the barrier's perimeter." The latter grabbed the nearest broomstick and flew off, leaving Ruby with the madwoman.

The woman just blinked, and the next thing Ruby knew, they appeared to have teleported away from the courtyard and into a hallway that corresponded with the descriptions her friends had given her about the vision of Gwendolen and Chelsey.

"Are they really friends or are they just lackeys, I can't tell anymore?" Ruby asked the Simian Witch as they walked down the hallway.

"It depends on how you define 'friends'," she said. "With me, it's people I can mutually agree with but who at the same time understand the line."

"The line?"

"The line. You know, the one that separates you from being the person with calmness and mercy or being the angry witch who kills those who betray her. We all have such a line that stabilizes us, but mine is quite easy to perceive and therefore serves as a warning."

"Yeah, I heard about the eyes." She pointed her fingers at her own hazel eyes. "You know, how you turn from blue to grey eyes when you get angry."

"Yes, that was... quite the side effect. Changing eye color when enraged is not something common in my family. I was naturally born with grey eyes, but they altered when my Mystical Monkey Power and Monkey Witchcraft talents awoke from their dormant states when I was in a fit of rage. Since the power is commonly blue, my eyes became denim blue whenever I'm calm...and grey whenever I get enraged."

"Well at least that explains where Martin gets his frustration issues," Ruby muttered.

"He gets it on _both_ sides of the family, the Simian Witch corrected. _As if that changed anything_ , Ruby thought.

The witch led her to a golden door with handles shaped like hanging monkeys. She grabbed the handles, brought them down, and the doors popped open into a rather luxurious chamber. The stone walls were far cleaner than the rugged ones from outside and covered with multiple black-and-red tapestries of the simian evolution, and the cold floor was decorated with one brown carpet. One side of the chamber was occupied by a dining table full of food and drinks and chairs enough to satisfy a date for two, a fireplace brought warmth to the room, vases and eastern wooden statues, all simian based, decorated the bare spaces. One black door had the sign 'MASTER CHAMBER AND BATHROOM. KEEP OUT!"

The other side of the chamber, whoever, was to bring the most attention. A large window gave a great view of the entire island, but the main focus was the coffee table and the red velvet couches occupied by Monkey Fist and Gwendolen playing chess against each other.

"Well, I give up!" Gwendolen said. "That's the seventy-fourth round of chess we played in three hours and not a single checkmate! For any of us!"

"Jolly," the British monkey man grumbled.

The Simian Witch cleared her throat. The two looked up.

"Silvia! How did it go?" Monkey Fist got up from his couch and almost went to embrace his wife until he saw Ruby scowling. "Rebecca? You made it?"

"You tell, Mr. Simian Witch," she said bitterly.

"I told you she wouldn't be happy," Gwendolen taunted to Monkey Fist.

"Gee, I wonder if that's why _Mrs. Fiske_ here thought about handcuffing me," Ruby shook her tied-up wrists, "because now I don't know if I should still be nice to you or if I should **CLAW YOUR EYES OUT!** "

Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch actually took a few steps backs. Ruby did have a thing for freaking out others when she went mad.

"How's the billionaire life going for you?" Gwendolen asked casually.

"Eh, it's on-and-off thing," Ruby shrugged. The simian villains took a few breaths of relief. "I mean, the charity events and parties are fun, the paparazzi is annoying, and NO, YOU'RE GETTING AWAY WITH IT!" Ruby shouted back to the Fiske couple.

"Rebecca, I assure you, we _did_ plan on telling you..." Monkey Fist tried to calm her down.

"Oh, was it _before_ or _after_ you were going to tell Martin? Or were you hoping to outlive him and tell him on the deathbed 'Guess what, son? Your mom has been sending killer marmosets at the office since you were a baby and we never told you!'?"

"I don't work in an office." The Simian Witch frowned in confusion.

"Shout-outs," Gwendolen snickered as she slouched on the couch she was sitting on. "They never get old!"

"Do you want to join the mandrills?" The sorceress asked sourly.

"Anytime you want." Gwendolen sat up. "By the way, you still didn't dispose of Marius Bogfae."

The Simian Witch snorted. She walked over to the dining table and filled herself a cup of wine. "The prince is a coward. He flew away leaving his 'precious' De Mort behind..."

Gwendolen just rolled her eyes in boredom, lifted her hand up, and pointed her hand at the window. as if to synchronize with her, a distant explosion was heard, the castle shook temporarily, and a strange blue wave of energy flew on the barrier.

"What was that?" Monkey Fist asked.

"Well, I'm handcuffed, so it couldn't be me." Ruby said.

The door bursted open. A teenager duplicate of Wuya, only male, with shorter, more rebellious clothing, and shoes, burst in. "Look, I know you said to never into your chambers..." He gasped for air. "But I just want to reassure you that we just exploded a passing ship, so you have nothing to worry about..."

"Hanlin, don't you think I should be more worried about that strange shock wave on my barrier?" The sorceress waved her cup at Hanlin. "Besides, how many times have I told you and the other children to not attract attention from other boats by shooting at them?"

"It was just a damn stupid Bueno Nacho yacht, nothing to grumble about!" Hanlin complained. "Besides, why would a shock wave scare you? Your Mystical Monkey Power-charged barrier is impenetrable without your consent."

The wine spilled on the carpet and the Simian Witch grabbed Hanlin and threw him out the window, smashing the glass in the process. Apparently it was custom on Isla Simia to throw children around like balls and break windows.

"A Bueno Nacho yacht explosion followed by a blue shock wave on a Mystical Monkey Power barrier?" Monkey Fist grew an expression of hatred that Ruby had never seen from him, not even back on the Isle. " _The Stoppable offspring_."

"And she was with the insect when he ran off!" The Simian Witch stormed towards the door. "Monty, take Rebecca to a safer location in the castle! It looks like my time-travel scheme is being pushed days ahead of schedule!"

"For when?" Monkey Fist nodded.

"In forty minutes at the latest!"

 _Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle_

A bubble rose from the island's small river and made it upstream, against the currents and the rapids until it became a stream that bordered with one of the castle's walls. It floated out of the water and exploded, resulting in Marius, Ronilda, Grey, Melgo, Gladiola, and Mary to crash-land into the grass.

"Oh, my dad is _so_ gonna ground me for life when he finds out that I got his Bueno Nacho yacht barbecued!" Ronilda stretched her spine and checked her pants' pockets to make sure that her pet Reedy was safe.

"You can always pull out the excuse of you helping save the world." Gladiola suggested. "Good thing you used a last minute MMP protection bubble to get us off the yacht, underwater, and through the barrier. That's good, ain't it?"

A series of gonging and angry shouts were heard. "Curses! By using Mystical Monkey Power to break through the Simian Witch's defenses, you've alerted the rest of the sorcerers of your presence!"

The teenagers' eyes widened like saucers as they gasped when they realized Mary actually spoke in a normal, buff voice. "You can talk?" Marius said.

"Shocking, I know." He shrugged. "It's just part of the island's magic. My kind, the Homo Simius, part-man, part-simian warriors, use normal human dialect in this form to communicate on Isla Simia, whereas in the mainland, we resort to our harmless simian appearances and screeching to fool others."

"Does that mean we have to stop calling you 'Mary'?" Marius asked. He was kind of getting used to Mary the Killer Marmoset.

"All the Homo Simius are male and named after Greek mythology figures," the Homo Simius said. "Besides, I enjoy baking cookies. So Mary sticks."

"Well, Mary," Marius said as he looked up at the large dominating wall. "I don't suppose you know where the Saturnium is kept."

"I do." Mary nodded. "For a witch who has many loyal followers, the mistress doesn't trust anyone enough except her husband. But because of our small sizes, all of the island's marmosets know that she hid the Saturnium in the castle catacombs, somewhere past the mandrill pit..."

Ronilda actually shivered. "The mandrills? But Everyone in Yamanouchi calls them the Simian Witch's lap dogs! They chew on everything until only the skin is left!"

"Why do you think she uses them to guard the Saturnium?" Mary asked flatly. "She knew that if even her own SAP members were too scared to even challenge the beasts, they wouldn't think of going near the Saturnium."

"Well it looks like we'll have to challenge them," Marius said firmly.

"And what's your big plan, if I may ask?" Grey demanded. "In case you haven't checked, we're talking of monkey warriors and hundreds of vicious wizards and witches against a ragtag team of, what, a mixed species hybrid prince, a rebellious cheerleader with parent issues, a blue skinned geek with plasma beams, a hyperactive torch-wielding Troll princess, a defective killer marmoset with a girl's name, and an ax-wielding humanoid griffon! What are we, the Suicide Squad? The Avengers? The Mane Six? Whatever freaking team in whatever universe we live in that needs antiheroes to save the day?"

"Look, I don't give a shit if we're antiheroes or their offspring!" Marius snapped. "I don't care if it's a bad guy, a good guy, or some pony fan in a pink tutu who saves the day! I got an hourglass to smash before that witch decides to erase my girlfriend out of history and alter time! For all I know, we might not even be born if this happens!"

Gladiola suddenly jumped and waved her Torch of Happiness. " _Torch that I wield, save me with a shield!_ " The colorful flames swirled and created a shield that blocked the dark and glittery blasts of magic from incinerating the group. The moment the blasts died and Gladiola dissolved the shield but held her torch at the ready, the others looked at the sorcerers who just attacked them, one with his hands reddened from shooting magic and the other's wand had some smoke filling up."

"Speciosus?" Melgo recognized the first one as Speciosus Narissa, the son of Queen Narissa, and one of the Isle of the Lost VKs who studied at Auradon Prep.

" _MALIGNA?_ " Ronilda exclaimed when she saw the daughter of Trixie, her fellow cheerleader and schoolmate, and Speciosus' girlfriend. "Why on Earth are you with the SAP? I thought you were against phony Principal Melchior, oh wait... Amira used her Scolipede to prevent the other St Luther reformees from protesting against Principal What's-His-Face."

"True, I don't like him." Maligna sneered while Speciosus held her in his arm. "But spending time with my boyfriend has shown how much I _actually_ enjoy being nasty."

"And they say Luther's belief was that the individual's conscience leads to a life of righteousness while the body provokes sin." Marius shook his head before engaging into battle.


	42. Time And The Saturnium

Chapter 42: Time and the Saturnium

Blasts distinguished as magical ones exploded in the distance. The walls shook, which gave the castle on Isla Simia human shivers while Monkey Fist dragged Ruby out of the chamber through a secret staircase hidden behind one of the tapestries. Gwendolen followed them with a flashlight at hand.

"I can't believe you'd just let your insane wife go with her plan!" Ruby angrily told Monkey Fist.

"What other choice do you propose, Rebecca?" He said bitterly. "Silvia's plans with the Saturnium are the only way to fix the past mistakes so that she and I can finally be a family with Martin!"

"Because walking up to your own son with his old missing mother and say 'Son, this is your mother. She may be evil, but we kept our distances so you could be safe' is way more difficult that changing history?" She frowned in hurt disappointment. "To think I saw you as a father figure when you and Martin hosted me after _my_ mother and I broke apart..."

She must have hit the button, because he paused in his tracks and tightened the grip he had on her arm, which only added further pain since she was still handcuffed. Gwendolen said nothing while Monkey Fist himself turned his head like a cracked statue replacing its head. He gave an even bitter glare at Ruby, who just looked back at him in defiance.

"Let me ask you something," he asked her flatly. "How did you react when you found out about your old nursery?" Asked so flatly, this set Ruby's mind back to her official first day back home.

 _Back in January after the events of NEW DESCENDANTS OF AURADON PREP_

It was the first weekend of the week following the entire VK community's enrollment in Auradon Prep. After already settling up in her dorms and going back to classes, Ruby's father had an agreement with her that it was high time she returned back home, her original home, in Gotham City.

A major change in Ruby's life. She had lived most of her life as a street urchin growing up in the worst streets of Gotham City and eventually becoming a mercenary before getting shipped to the Isle, but now that her full heritage was revealed and she had reunited with her remaining family, she was no longer a criminal but the heiress of Wayne Industries. For at least two hours, Audrey and Noir put her into a nouveau riche fashion, making her temporarily discard her comfortable casual leather clothing for a white mink coat, a purple wool winter dress with black wool tights, and white winter boots, brushing her hair and applying her face with makeup to make her look like a natural aristocrat. " _Paparazzi's are insane! They'll want a month's worth of newspapers talking about Bruce Wayne's returned kid!_ " Audrey had warned her.

Boy, could the daughter of Sleeping Beauty never lie about the press! The moment the Wayne Private Jet arrived in Gotham Airport, the entire area was covered with at least fifty reporters, pestering the Waynes with questions and snapping pictures. Luckily Alfred knew the janitor, so the paparazzi evacuated after a fire drill stunt. Plus, Martin had accompanied her to bring her some comfort through the ordeal.

" _You'd think they could see right through me if I had come here in my leather jacket and fishnets!"_ Ruby had muttered when they stepped inside the limousine and Alfred drove them towards their destination.

" _I don't think it worked the first time we met_ ," Martin had said. This gave some relief and joy to Ruby, knowing that even though she crossed over to the billionaire side, Martin still enjoyed her for the rebellious, sarcastic wild cat she was when he fell in love with her. Whether Ruby wore a fancy mink coat or a leather biker jacket, he didn't care.

They had arrived to Wayne Manor. Seeing the giant mansion, even though it was only like a quarter or half of the Fiske Estate's own size, still made Ruby feel uneasy. The fact that she was to inherit that light bricked building with sky-reflecting windows, the fancy green garden, and the companies that came with it. " _That's... a lot._ " She had gulped.

" _I know it may be too much at first, but don't think of it as any less than a warm home,_ " her father said.

" _Look on the bright side, you'll have less chances of getting lost in there than back in my place._ " Martin joked before admitting in embarrassment. " _Took me about three years to learn how to navigate in my own castle._ "

" _How on earth do you manage do lose yourself in a castle?_ " Alfred had asked while Martin helped him unload the limousine.

" _Too many secret passages_. _Around 40 that date since the castle's foundations in the Middle Ages... and 60 modern ones to use for escape in case DNAmy ever broke in..."_

The mansion was even bigger on the inside. Ruby's father had enough to have in large sizes a kitchen, living room, ballroom, conference room, staircase, bathrooms, dining room, master chambers, guest chambers, indoor gymnasium, rooms for collected artifacts, and let's not get started with the underground bat cave. To think Ruby would inherit all of this.

 _"My castle is now puny compared to your mansion_ ," Martin had said while he helped Ruby settle in to her new room.

" _C'mon, don't say that. I really enjoyed my time at your place._ " A sigh had come out of her lips. " _Hopefully I can adjust to something so rich that's actually mine."_

" _Uh, Ruby?_ "

Martin had just opened a door annexing Ruby's new room to another. She had stopped loading her clothes into her new closet to see what her boyfriend was found. Her tracks froze. The other room was awfully familiar. It was something she had only seen when reliving memories that had been so foggy until recently.

" _My... my nursery..."_ Ruby was unable to believe what she was seeing. Her old memories of the nursery she had as an infant were still the same. The peach-colored walls, the white curtains and shelves, the brown carpets, the toys, the crib... Everything was still here and dust-free. " _I can't believe he never got rid of it._ "

" _He lost for sixteen years, Tough Tigress. I don't think that he'd want to get over it_ ," her boyfriend had pointed out.

Ruby had found something in the crib. She took it out and began to cry. It was a framed portrait of a couple in a hospital, with the woman lying in a bed. She was exhausted but had enough energy to smile at a baby bundled up in a pink blanket, with the man sitting next to his love and cooing at the baby with adoration. Ruby didn't need to read the words to get that the couple were her father and her once happy mother, Catwoman.

"' _Praise the Lord for blessing us with Rebecca'_ ," Martin had read the picture's caption by looking above Ruby's shoulder. " _He must have gone to church a lot for his prayers to be fulfilled._ "

" _Yeah..._ " She frowned at the picture. _"Makes me wonder how life would have been for me if Penna never cause my parents to be separated._ "

" _I'd rather you didn't._ " Martin hugged her from behind. " _As much as I don't like De Mort, I can just say that if it weren't for her, you and I would have never met."_

 _Back to the present_

You and I would have never met.

The words echoing in her head made Ruby's eyes widen. She scowled at Monkey Fist, who, to her luck, misinterpreted it as 'now you see what we are going through'.

Ruby _did_ understand them, but there were only two issues. For one, her father _never_ put revenge on Penna as a priority over his child while the Fiskes acted like removing one worm would solve the global agricultural problems concerning pests. And for two, while it was obvious that Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch both supported their son dating her, they didn't seem to realize that changing time would break up the couple.

 _Meanwhile_

Trees crashed down without anyone shouting 'Timber!'

"Watch it!" Maligna shouted at Grey right when he caught his boomerang-swinging ax.

"The only thing you should worry about is the permanent detention hours you're gonna get!" Ronilda threw her a blue blast, catapulting Maligna a quarter across Isla Simia. Speciosus stopped trying to snap Marius (Speciosus had transformed into a blue dragon to try eating the prince up) and flew after his girlfriend to catch up to her.

"What's the plan now?" Gladiola asked. "We'll eventually have to face an army of sorcerers!"

"We'll have to split up, unfortunately." Marius looked up at the castle. "We'll have to split in half. The first one heads inside the castle to reach the Simian Witch or the Saturnium, whatever comes first, and the second one will go into the jungle."

"I can take care of the diversion with Melgo and Grey while you take Mary and Gladiola with you to raid the palace," Ronilda volunteered. She raised a finger at Gladiola before the Troll Princess could protest. "You may be my bonded Troll, but with me and Melgo already in charge of the diversion, Marius will need some magical backup."

The princess cracked her knuckles. "Let's do it."

Ronilda, Melgo, and Grey ran east and disappeared in the greenery. "So, Mary. What's the closest entrance to the catacombs?" Marius asked.

"Unfortunately the mandrill pit in the main courtyard..." Mary began.

Gladiola knelt down and patted the soft grass underneath. "I think we can go a whole lot faster." She swung her Torch of Happiness, creating a circle of rainbow fire. " _Moving at speed of sound, a safe passage from underground!_ "

A blast of fire hit the grass, burning and sinking its way into the earth. The flames kept digging, leaving a passage made of dirt that went down at least ten feet below the castle.

"Glad you came along." Marius said gratefully.

"No big. Let's go." Gladiola ran first, lighting the way for them.

 _Ten to fifteen minutes later, in the Isla Simia catacombs_

While the Isla Simia catacombs were by far the most majestic architectural wonders that any villain would kill their mother to get their eyes on, it was highly not recommended for normal tourists. With ten centuries old stone pillars holding up a ceiling that made just enough room for the first two levels of the Eiffel Tower, anyone walking under it could be under the potential threat of those red rocks falling on their heads. The unlikeliness of any random eyes coming here for the sake of danger was a great place for any Simian Witch to cast dangerous spells or summon unholy spirits. They'd stand on the underground temple's main ritual platform, with the symbol of Mystical Monkey Power sending off vibrations whenever it sensed dark magic in session.

But today it was used for another purpose. The current Simian Witch punched the heart of the platform and a stone cylinder emerged from the earth, holding the Saturnium.

"Take position," the Simian Witch ordered the eight sorcerers she had selected to form her eight magical sources. They nodded and took their positions on the arc that formed the platform's symbol. The sorceress started turning the keys of the Saturnium. "The moment I pronounce the incantation, a time portal will appear. It will close only once the sorcerer who has casted it stepped inside."

"How long should that take?" Hannibal Bean asked.

"The incantation? A minute. Me stepping in the portal? I'm not wasting any second." The Simian Witch scowled. "I underestimated the prince, so I won't be some hare expecting the turtle to lose the race. Once the portal comes, I'm going!"

She turned the last key. The eight keys started spinning automatically, first in a creepy music box slowness until they sped up like a crazy malfunctioning locomotive. Breezes flew in from multiple directions and the circle of eight sorcerers' bodies glowed red.

The Simian Witch thrust her arms in the open. Her own denim eyes turned into a shadowy grey and her smile gave out a sadistic smile as she recited the incantation. " _The Simian Witch summons the powers of the Time Turner to change reality as she desires! Selene and Helios, reverse your cycles! Oceanus and Kronos, turn back the days and years' spirals! Change Penna De Mort's fate, so that with this power, I shall suffer no more!_ "

Thunder boomed. Red lightning emerged from the eight sorcerers and hit the Saturnium. The relic's sapphire glass sand turned red and projected out a spinning red vortex. The Simian Witch smiled at it. In just six feet ahead, she was bound to victory.

"Victory is upon us!" She declared eagerly.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them shook. The sorcerers looked up and saw the ceiling exploding, with rocks showering and Mary and Gladiola, led by Marius, came charging in. The Simian Witch's eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the prince charging his fist at her.

"HEY THERE, JACKASS!"

While the rubble came in, the villains got covered. Seeing his former mistress make her way to the portal, Mary moved aside and pushed Gladiola and Marius as hard as he could.

They landed in the portal right before the Simian Witch's entrance made it close.

"Go save the world," he sighed.

 _God knows when..._

The first thing Marius saw was darkness. Then, the feeling he got whenever his exoskeleton got brutally cracked kicked in. He bolted up, feeling like he got hit on all the nerves.

"Ow, my head," he grumbled as his fingers brushed on his horns.

"I think I got hit in the rainbows."

Marius gasped. When he looked up, he saw Gladiola pushing herself up and picking up the items that had fallen out of her hair before finally picking up her Torch of Happiness. "What happened?" She asked.

"Last time I checked, we went after the Simian Witch through the portal..." Marius got up and stretched himself. "Did you have the feeling of... going through backward television reruns? Because I feel like I just went through reversed episodes of crime-fighting cheerleaders and llama stampeding football games."

"Yeah, except for me it involved guys eating cakes that made them explode." Gladiola got up, only to stop when she felt something touch her foot. They looked down and saw what looked like a tile floor covered in rubble. Gladiola bent down and rubbed the dust away. "Oh no..."

"What is it?" Marius walked up to her.

"This... this is the floor of the Hallow Eye of Dragon Hall." She got up and held up her torch. Soon enough, she and Marius realized that they were standing on a massive pile of rubble and age, the work worthy of an earthquake destroying a city to extinction and using a tsunami to surround it with a massive body of water. Dark red clouds covered the sky while in the distance, a continent was full of dark buildings and blazing fires. "Marius, we're on the Isle Of The Lost! We're standing on the rubble of the school Mal and the other VKs used to go to!"

"But... but..." Marius stammered. He picked some of the rocks and let them slip through his fingers. "How is it even possible? We went in the time portal right after the Simian Witch did? Shouldn't we be in the same time zone as her? In the past?"

"You should have held the Saturnium for that, you dolt."

They turned and saw a girl that they knew was from Auradon Prep, but that they hardly interacted with. The readers already know her because she appeared in the tenth chapter of the previous story and in the first chapter of the other story, VILLAINS HIGH, but they lost touch with her as the adventures went on. At least now they get to know that she enjoyed her time in Auradon Prep, making quite a worthy member of the Auradon Prep debate team while still going gambling at poker or spinning straw into gold in the school stables, receiving complaints from bankers and stable boys.

"How come you're here?" Marius asked Amanda.

"I'm the daughter of Rumplestiltskin. And imps don't get affected by time warps." She pulled out something from behind her back and held up by the ears before throwing it at Marius.

"Impius!" Marius received a massive hug from his pet. Amanda smiled at them before crossing her legs and doing a perfect backflip, landing on her feet while still keeping her legs crossed.

"I may have survived the Simian Witch's time warp, but don't think it means I'll physically help you," Amanda said.

"You don't give a damn whether or not it's the end of the world, do you?" Gladiola scowled.

"Hey, imps are neutral. We spread chaos for the fun of it. It ain't my problem if the witch is causing this." She pointed at the sky. Marius and Gladiola gasped. The outlines of the red clouds hid black cracks, cracks similar to those you seen on widows breaking, and within those cracks, waves of colors dangerously mixed together.

"This is not good," Marius declared.

"Those are reality cracks," Amanda explained as she sat down on what used to be a locker. "Everytime somebody uses a time traveling device with intense power like the Saturnium, the connected universes will suffer collateral damage and final annihilation. So let's say our reality is World A and any world originated from time alterations are Worlds B through F. Everytime a new world is created, the reality cracks threaten to destroy the previous worlds, but when it hits World F, the original world, World A, will be destroyed and everything that goes with it. Like the Big Bang."

"We must get the Saturnium out of the Simian Witch's hands!" Marius sprung his wings, but Amanda caught him by the foot and swung him back to the ground.

"Only the one who activated the Saturnium in the first place can fix this mess," Amanda pointed out.

" _You_ must be **joking**!" Marius exclaimed.

"It's the rule of the Saturnium." Amanda flicked her wrist and a ripped manuscript page appeared. Gladiola took it from her and read it out loud.

"'The Saturnium has eight keys that allows the user to travel to any date he or she desires, but even with eight different sources of powerful magic to activate it, the artifact will only let the user alter time _six times_ '!" Gladiola gasped. "'The first three can be used to alter time until the user finally realizes that the more time is changed, the more reality cracks, therefore should take the opportunity to use the last three times to fix three mistakes to restore reality as it is.'" She handed the page to Marius for him to read. "So... the Simian Witch can use the Saturnium to alter time _six times_?" She asked Amanda.

"Yes," the latter nodded. "After wasting the first three, she has to use the last ones to restore reality. _Your_ problem, not mine, is to make her realize that."

"OK..." Gladiola did not sound excited. "And what about those 'three mistakes'?"

"Any world born out of time alteration has glitches that connect to others. Three things that were connected to the thing that got altered, in this case, anything that relates to Penna De Mort becoming evil got glitched."

"Of course." Marius rolled up the page and tucked it in his tunic. "The Simian Witch altered time so that Penna never became evil and therefore never made things as they were in our time." He snapped his fingers. "I got it! We find _this_ time's Simian Witch and take the Saturnium from her. If the relic is indifferent to its users, it will let us use it to go back in time and prevent the _original_ Simian Witch to change the past, she'll get ticked that she'll waste her next two times and _then_ she'll have to realize her mistake and finish up her times to fix everything and go back to our Auradon."

"Wait, you want to use a parallel universe's Saturnium against the original Saturnium?" Gladiola asked in confusion.

"It does fit." Amanda nodded. "The rules of the Saturnium won't be dramatic if they come from a fake world like this one while the original one will be more destructive."

"Great!" Marius started taking steps ahead. "Then let's go find the Simian Witch!" He stopped. "Oh, wait. We don't know where she is."

"Easy!" Amanda pointed at the demonic continent. "In this parallel universe, Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch took over the world. Auradon is now the Fiske Empire and everyone is under the dictatorship of the Monkey King, the Simian Empress, and the Prince of Darkness."

" _How_ does the universe decide who rules the world when one girl is pulled away from a path of evil?!" Gladiola raised her arms in disbelief as if the Isle Of The Lost was the Titanic and the continent her iceberg.

"Oh, wanna hear the funniest part?" Amanda giggled. "Not only did the Fiskes take over the world, but Maleficent and Mal are normal blonde powerless humans working as royal janitors!"

Marius scowled. He grabbed Gladiola and Impius and threw them on his back before flying off towards the continent, with Amanda waving them in the distance.

"I'm coming, Simian Witch."


	43. The Fiske Empire

Chapter 43: The Fiske Empire

It took less than ten minutes for Marius to fly over the sea to reach Auradon... excuse me, the _Fiske Empire_ , and only one minute to hide on a vacant roofdeck to see the rest of the damage.

Gladiola looked the most horrified. As a Troll, she disdained pollution and was glad that her Troll of Happiness' flames didn't cause any smoke issues, but she did _not_ smile at all when she, Marius, and Impius realized that the main reason the sky was red was that every inhabited place on earth had implanted torches on all the outdoor walls, and the smoke coming from those gory cinders floated into larger masses in the sky, thus blocking the sky of any light. As for nature itself... either an arena or training ground occupied it or there was a massive block full of stone and metal temple buildings killing the black grass.

Marius put his hand in Gladiola's hair and searched through it until he found a spyglass. He used it to spy on the earth below them. There were no sidewalks or roads, just grounds made of rock tiles like in the Antiquity. The citizens looked like anyone going on in their random dystopian lives: wearing modern 21st century clothing fashioned like black ninja garbs, women shopping in clothes offering monkey tail belts, and soldiers walking through the streets dressed entirely as ninjas, including masks that concealed their faces. No need to add further that the soldiers were completely buff.

"The Fiskes _really_ know how to take over the world when given a chance." He said worried. He passed the spyglass to Gladiola.

She whistled. "Wow. I feel like it's a combination of the Matrix and A Sitch in Time." Marius gave her a confused look. "Some guys decided to make an animated show of Ronilda's parents during their crime-fighting years. The movie was a rip-off, suggesting time travel and what the world would look like if Melgo's mom took over the world. Four words: green and black uniforms."

"Alright." Marius got up and flew up to perch on the wall. "First step should be locating the Simian Witch. If she and her family took over the world, then we are looking..." Impius' chirping got the two royals' attention. They ran to the imp, who jumped on the railing and pointed ahead, where they saw a giant dark castle with a massive red fortress. The architectural duo of duo dominated the entire city they were in. " _You_ must be joking!" Marius exclaimed in exasperation.

"I know!" Gladiola crossed her arms. "It's idiotic enough that the universe's first choice of alternate universe is a monkey-themed one, but having Monkey Fist's castle version 2.0 substituting Ben's castle?" She dropped on her knees and screamed at the sky. "CURSE YOU, UNIVERSE!"

Swishing noises came out of nowhere. Four black bodies landed, surrounding the two royals and the imp. Unlike the ninja guards from below, these four wore full body black ninja armor and held weapons going from a sword, two spears, and what looked like a bag of shurikens.

"Marius!" Gladiola grabbed a bo staff out of her hair and threw it at him. He caught it and used it to block the attack of the first ninja's sword. Sparks flew and Marius looked down to recognize the blade as the jagged one Huns had in their weapons. Ninjas Two and Three jumped on the sides and threw their spears at him, but Gladiola wacked them off with her hair. The fourth ninja then threw five shurikens at her.

" _You don't have what it takes when you shoot people with cupcakes!_ " She recited and blared some Torch of Happiness flames at the shurikens, reducing them to pink frosted cupcakes that splattered on the floor.

"Try something more useful!" Marius shouted as he kicked Ninja One in the stomach. The ninja smashed right onto the wall and the black helmet that shrouded her face fell off. Marius gasped when he recognized her. " _Haya Yu?_ "

"Oh don't tell me... _What you have once lied, reveal who you are on the inside!"_ Rainbow flamed tentacles hit the other three ninjas' helmets, revealing as a fact that the gang of four ninjas were none other than Haya Yu, Xaos Sethson, Kory Lokisia, and Macy Beth. All the girls had their once long hair shaved into military hairstyles while Xaos was completely bald. Red tattoos representing the Monkey Power insignia were scarring the left half of their faces, making them look like soldiers with marks labeling them as properties of the tyrants that dominated them.

The Dark Rulers held out their weapons and dangerously advanced towards their opponents. It was so unnerving on how none of them said the classic 'In the name of the Empire, surrender now!' or even brag that they didn't stand a chance. These 'minions' looked overly confident in their job. They didn't need boastful remarks; they did their job without backing down!

"The best band in Auradon Prep is now part of the Fiskes' army?" Marius clenched his fist. "How on earth is that possible? Haya, you _hate_ working for other people!"

The daughter of Shan-Yu said nothing. Her facial mark just left a strange red glow that faded away and got followed by Haya raising her sword and pointing it at Marius.

Fog suddenly covered the roofdeck. The Dark Rulers coughed, leaving Marius the opportunity to grab Gladiola, sense Impius jumping on his back, and fly off away as fast as they good.

"Great job messing with the pipes to create a distraction, Impius!" Marius complimented his pet. The imp chirped in glee. Meanwhile, Gladiola shrunk to better adjust herself and settled for hanging there on Marius' horns.

"OK, let's review the damage before our brain gets fried." She started scrapbooking the entire scenario. "First, the 'what-would-have-happened-if-Penna-De-Mort-never-became-evil' results with the present becoming a monkey Apokolyps. Then, Amanda Von Stiltskin tells us that Maleficent and Mal are normal human janitors working at the castle. Third, people are living the monkey kung fu way. Fourth, Monkey Fist's castle substitutes Ben's, and finally, we learn that a music band from the Isle Of The Lost work for the Fiske Empire Army!"

"Probably not willingly." Marius muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice Haya before Impius broke the pipes?" Marius asked. "Right before she lifted her sword, I saw her facial tattoo glowing briefly. Like a signal."

"So what? The red monkey symbol they had on their faces was giving them orders? Like they were being brainwashed?" Gladiola pondered. "You know, it's actually not dumb. I know... or in this case, _knew_ a girl back at St Luther Rose Academy, her name was Johanna Buchanan Barnes, and she'd often tell stories of her dad the Winter Soldier getting brainwashed by HYDRA to being their puppet assassin while also keeping him from remembering his past and rebelling." She looked at the city below them. "It does fit. If _I_ were the one conquering the world and turning it into my own dystopian society, I'd probably keep around anyone who could be a potential threat but serve well as a servant by brainwashing them. Maybe the Simian Witch used some kind of spell to make Haya and others comply and the marks represent their slavery?"

"And if powerful beings like Maleficent and Mal got _reduced to normal_..." Marius paused and blinked at the forest of black cherry blossom trees they were flying over. Just up ahead, they saw a temple that looked a bit familiar. "Gladiola? Is that... _Auradon Prep_?"

Students in ninja uniforms were seen coming and going or sparring with each other in the old Tourney field that got replaced by a Chinese training ground. Bulky ninja guards stood position at the doors, tightening their crossed arms as they observed students marching in. What used to be Malevia Village was replaced by small stone houses. The old school sign said 'FISKE PREPARATORY ACADEMY. WHERE BEING SIMIAN KEEPS GETTING BETTER! OH, AND PREPARE TO BE SUBJUGATED!'

"Yep," Marius and Gladiola said in boredom. "It's Auradon Prep."

 _Minutes later_

The school was dark and austere appearing on the inside, ten times worse on the inside then on the outside. Everything was made of flat stones or sharp woods, the windows were caged on the outside to prevent anyone from breaking out, and every door leading to a classroom, the library, or the cafeteria was guarded by a ninja soldier who locked the doors up the moment every student came to class.

The trio snuck through a mouse hole that led up to the top shelf of a bookcase (Gladiola had used the Torch of Happiness to shrink them). They now hid under a big encyclopedia and watched as twenty students, a mix of children and adults of all ages, walked in and sat down in front of metal tables.

"Remind me again of why we are spying in a class in Ego Prep?" Gladiola asked Marius right when a teacher stepped inside last and the doors got shut from the outside.

"Education is key." Marius shrugged. "We still need a plan to figure out how to get to the Simian Witch and the Saturnium, but first, we must learn about the world we live in." He put a finger on his mouth and urged them to shush.

"Hello and welcome to Remedial Enslavement 101," the teacher clapped her hands. The teacher turned out to be a witch in ninja clothes wearing a nametag that said WUYA, FACULTY EXPERT ON SUBJUGATION. "My name is Professor Wuya and I will be your teacher until the art of embracing your slavery has filled your minds and hearts."

"The Heylin hag who helped the Simian Witch works as a teacher?" Marius pouted before shrugging. "That fits."

"Let me explain why you are all here," Professor Wuya clasped her hands. She paced through the rows of tables. Even from their hiding spots, the heroes didn't have to see to know that the students were probably sweating or holding themselves to avoid crying. "You're independent, you think on your own, and you've heard of the rebels. These are all problems. You are citizens of monarchs who have enough decency to let you live, and the best way to express your gratitude to their is to accept your status, not question their rules, and do as your told." Wuya clapped her hands and a large TV screen appeared. "Here is a documentary created by your tyrannically yet benevolent rulers."

"She really needs to check her words." Gladiola shook her head. "Nobody can be both tyrannical and benevolent at the same time!" She stopped talking when the document started playing.

 _Fiske Empire! Fiske Empire!_

 _It's the perfect world, we go higher!_

 _We rule above all and you comply_

 _We're evil, it's not a lie._

 _Accept your role in this simian dystopia_

 _And you will live fairly ever after!_

 **THE FISKE EMPIRE**

 **HOW IT STARTED AND HOW IT PROSPERED**

 _First, a briefing from your rulers, the Monkey King and the Simian Witch_.

The documentary showed a red throneroom, and on the two main black thrones sat Monkey Fist and the Simian, both wearing red and blue regal robes respectively and crowns made of metal monkey bones.

" _You know, I started out as an archaeologist seeking world domination who never got taken seriously because of his interests,"_ the Monkey King said, " _but that was before I met the love of my life. Your Simian Empress."_

" _Thank you, honey_." The Simian Empress patted his hand. Marius scowled at the screen while the sorceress continued. " _Twenty years ago, I married Monkey Fist and together we created the best monkey army that brought down the governments who've been making a mess of everything. Luckily, we stepped in and made_ _ **everything**_ _better by self-nominating us as global leaders!"_

 _"Granted, it sounds totalitarian, but we do give other villains countries to govern and great jobs!"_ the Monkey King added. " _The overall taxes to go in our banks, but we like to say that with our extremist laws, we have made the Fiske Empire a perfect utopia for villains and a dystopia for those who oppose it. Observe what we have!"_

The documentary went on to show how the world was currently doing, and as they watched, the eyes of Impius, Marius, and Gladiola widened so largely, they could have fallen off their sockets and rolled off like marbles. In this bad universe, Ursula ruled Atlantica and her eight daughters were the princesses. Lady Tremaine killed the monarchy after Anastasia married the prince and her old servant Cinderella was working as a slave in a coalmine. The Huns were no longer their own army and were actually the bulky ninjas under the Fiske's servitude, but Shan-Yu did get the right to govern China and have multiple concubines (footage revealed Mulan to be one of them) in exchange for abandoning his army, most of Africa's forests got destroyed to expand the production of vibranium and adamantium, Drakken and Shego ruled Canada, Yzma ruled all of South America and Izzy Yzzi was her spoiled heir, and other cruelties. The worst one by far that actually made the heroes go back to the mouse hole to vomit was when not only did Jafar take over Agrabah, but he collaborated with Gaston and Frollo to create an industrial factory line called 'the Quick Baby Factory' where attractive women were placed in pods and only their lower bodies were exposed so that male clients could pay and insert in the desired women. Clients paid around a thousand bucks to wait, the impregnated woman was put in hibernation, and then in nine months she give birth and the whole cycle would recommence. If the babies were boys, they were instantly sold to the designated clients slash new parents, but if they were girls, the employees used a computer program to predict which ones would become ugly or attractive. An ugly girl would go to the client, but the attractive girl would be labeled 'faulty' and kept in the factory until she matured and replaced the dead women in the pods.

It didn't help that while they were talking about the last deed, the factory co-founders were seen in their 'office', drinking champagne together while their little wives Jasmine, Belle, and Esmeralda, were busy looking disgusted and miserable as they massaged the men's feet while also wearing rather revealing French maid outfits.

"That's weird," Marius frowned. "Haven't you noticed that the footage revealed nothing of the male descendants we know? Where are Ursula's firstborn son Sean Abyss, Lady Tremaine's son François, and the male offspring of the factory boys, Jay, Gabriel, and Charles?"

"Isn't it obvious? Grandfather paradox rules, you kill a grandparent before the parent conception and the grandchild slash time traveler never existed," Gladiola scrapbooked. "If the Simian Witch changed the past so that Penna never became evil, that means that whatever Penna did to make the villains' most epic schemes never happened and there's nothing in the heroes. So if we take the paradox like with Belle..."

"She never met Beast, they never defeated Gaston and broke the curse, no marriage, no Auradon Prep..." Marius listed. "No Ben. But if relationships got broken and some of the descendants either never existed or got but in servitude, how do you explain changes like Maleficent being a janitor?"

 _"As you can see, this is the world we live in_." The Simian Empress from the documentary continued. " _It's evil and it's perfect and you're al citizens."_

" _So please, do follow our orders, or the next thing you know, you will be spending the rest of your life as marked brainwashed servants for disobeying or rebelling!_ " The Monkey King finished the documentary. Professor Wuya clapped her hands and the screen disappeared. She returned to the class.

"So, what have we learned?" She asked,

"To not question our position in the Fiske Empire," the students spoke in a monotone voice.

"Very good. Now," she snapped her fingers and black books opened up in front of the students, "let's read out loud the Fiske Alphabet to ensure our motives _really_ stick in your heads."

"A is for absolute, B is for benevolent, C is for cruel, D is for..."

They didn't listen further. They snuck back through the mouse hole and around the wall tunnels until they made it out of the building. They hid behind a bush and Gladiola re-sized them. Nevertheless, they still had to whisper and duck. Guards were everywhere.

"So, what have I learned?" Gladiola asked sarcastically. Impius just shrugged.

"That we _really_ need to get the Saturnium away from the Simian Witch, otherwise we might be the next ones among the piles of despaired souls." Marius said sternly.

They heard a clicking noise and fell down a hole that opened up out of nowhere. They screamed their way down until their butts landed on something soft. The red sky disappeared in the distance and the opening closed up thanks to a metal door.

"Oy." They got up and saw that they landed on a pile of pillows. Lights turned on out of nowhere, brightening them. A silhouette walked out of the shadows.

"Looks like we got ourselves some new members in the rebellion," she said. It was a teenage girl dressed in a black magenta black ops uniform, black boots, and holding a giant gun over her shoulder. Her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. Mud stains were on her gloves and pants. She looked like one of the Hun girls that loved playing in mud, except it wasn't a Hun girl.

"AUDREY?" Gladiola lost her jaw.

Impius pooped in shock.

"This is... I don't... How exactly did Sleeping Beauty's daughter become part of the Résistance?" Marius stammered.

"My mom's more of a napper than a beauty," Audrey said. "Follow me and you can tell me everything on the way."

 _Minutes later_

The stench of sewer waste hit their nostrils while they walked on the path line going miles underground. Audrey pushed a boulder aside, revealing a tunnel with a staircase going further down.

"So let me get this straight," Rebel Audrey said as they walked. "You guys come from a parallel universe because the Simian Empress messed with time travel and you guys followed her."

"And we really need to get to her castle to find the Saturnium to prevent her from changing the past." Marius avoided the complex vocabulary that came with time travel. "Trust me on this one. Back in our timeline, _you_ would never roll yourself in mud for the better good!"

"What am like in your world?" Rebel Audrey asked curiously.

"More princess-y," Gladiola said.

"It sounds crazy, but in our world, your mother was cursed by Maleficent to sleep for a hundred years but your dad defeated Maleficent and gave your mother true love's kiss. So you were... kind of a pink princess. You even date our world's son of Jafar." Marius said.

"I date the son of one of the Quick Baby Factory boys?" Rebel Audrey scoffed.

"Forget that!" Marius shook his head. "Please explain to us why Princess Audrey became Rebel Audrey."

Rebel Audrey then told them the history of the Resistance and Fiske Empire opposition. Twenty years ago, the Fiskes and their allies took over the world and divided into nations with the Fiskes running them all. The few remaining heroes and antiheroes (that _we_ know) split into three groups. One was beyond hope and fell into slavery while the other two chose to strike. One of them, led by the former Team Possible and their siblings, chose to remain on Earth to fight back while the last group migrated to the moon for safety. While many of the parents still fought or retired on the moon, all their kids fought for the Resistance, assaulting the armies, freeing citizens from possible brainwashing, raided warehouses for supplies, or freeing human products from factories. Audrey was born to Philip and Aurora on the moon but went back to Earth to join the fight right on the heart of the Fiske Empire.

"That is some intense backstory," Gladiola commented as they reached the end of the stairs and found themselves entering a series of underground caves full of rebels training, carrying weapons, serving food to refugees, or plotting at maps.

"I still don't get how Maleficent isn't a fairy or why she didn't curse your mom," Marius told Rebel Audrey. "That was the whole plotline of your mother's story!"

"I never heard of her." Rebel Audrey shook her head.

"She and her daughter work as royal blonde janitors in your world."

"Oh! You mean Melanie and her kid Mellie!"

Gladiola froze on her tracks. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. " _How_ did Maleficent the Mistress of All Evil and Mal the Big Man on Campus' girlfriend turn into Melanie and Mellie the Blonde Muggle Janitors of the Castle? I hate the universe!"

"What about Martin Fiske? What's with him?" Marius asked Rebel Audrey.

"The Prince of Darkness? He's in charge of most of the military," she said. "As of right now, he's working in league with the tyrants Wardeth from Lorwadia and Grand Ruler Noir Du Feu from Tamaran to conquer the rest of the universe in their names."

"Jolly. And what about Ruby?"

Rebel Audrey frowned at him. He sighed: "Our world's Martin Fiske has a girlfriend named Ruby Kyle. Or Rebecca Martha Kyle Wayne, if you want the full name."

" _That_ full name I know!" Audrey stopped. A newspaper stack stood before a cave entrance. She knelt down and flipped through the papers until she pulled one it. Marius took it and read through it. "I don't believe it. Ruby and Martin aren't together in this universe?"

"How is that possible? Monkey Fist _and_ the Simian Witch were thumbs-up on Team Muby!" Gladiola gasped.

Impius jumped on Marius' shoulder while the latter continued. "Apparently Gotham City, being already a crime-wise city, got a neutrality pardon and was left on its own as long as it had no involvements with the other nations' rebels. Bruce Wayne's still a billionaire and a philanthropist, but this time he's still married with Selina Kyle and Rebecca's lived her whole life in Wayne Manor! Longer hair, pink clothes, white Persian cat named 'Lulu' and no adamantium nails!" He clenched the paper. "Audrey, do the sewers lead under the castle?"

Rebel Audrey's eyes widened. She smiled. "I never thought about that! All this time, we could have just snuck under the palace through the sewers!"

"Great!" Marius turned to Gladiola. "We can sneak in by shrinking with your Torch of Happiness and search the walls until we find the place where the Saturnium is held."

"You'll need back-up!" Rebel Audrey's whistle echoed through the cave galleries. Three ropes fell from above and three girls dressed exactly like Rebel Audrey slid down and landed on their feet. "Meet my Rosebud Squad. Gitane, Word Manipulator. Lonnie, Karate Commando. And Tara, Computer Hacker."

"S'up?" The girls greeted.

"OK, for once, this actually the one thing that's believable in this parallel world." Gladiola waved her finger at Gitane Trouillefou, Fa Li Lonnie, and Tara Sam Scam.

"So?" Marius clenched his fingers. "Who here wants to get a tour of the palace?"

The Rosebud Squad girls waved their guns in the air.


	44. First Time In The Past

Chapter 44: First Time In The Past

The Rosebud Squad girls guided Marius, Gladiola, and Impius through the sewer system until they reached the level right below the Fiske Castle.

"So how did you end up in the rebellion, Lonnie?" Marius said. "I heard your mom was stuck with Shan-Yu."

"She was." Lonnie the Karate Commando nodded. "My parents married and my mother gave birth to me shortly before the Huns conquered China. My dad managed to smuggle me to the moon but I came back to join the rebellion."

"I see."

"Is it true... those stories that you come from an alternate universe that isn't like this? That the Simian Witch is behind this?"

"Yeah. She..." Marius scratched his head in discomfort. "She and my girlfriend hated each and she got mad when my girlfriend caused her to live away from her family. Cue to the time travel mishap."

"Parents." Gitane the Word Manipulator shook her head. She turned to Tara the Computer Hacker, who was working on a holographic display of the Fiske Castle.

"We can use the garbage chute that leads up to the palace kitchens and then make our mere way to the treasure room," Tara said and she turned off the hologram.

"I got this." Audrey pulled out a grappling gun. Tara guided her to the oddly man-sized garbage chute. The rebel princess held up her gun and made her shot. Once the grappling hook landed in a secure spot, she pointed upward and the others followed her. Since the walls were horribly greasy and covered with dried food stains, they had to resort to climbing with the use of the rope. Naturally, Marius flew up and kicked the chute's lid open. He landed right into a restaurant-worthy kitchen full of vapor and mixed vegetable scent.

"C'mon! I said the food won't be ready until five!" A familiar voice shouted.

"Dårlig?" Marius recognized the voice of the Bergen. The vapor cleared and revealed Dårlig Bergen and Feige Blomstroll in chef uniforms. Feige's hair was tied down with a metal hair rope.

"Marius!" Dårlig gave a hug to the prince and instantly gave one to Gladiola as soon as the girls came out of the chute. "I never thought I'd be happy to see you again, princess!"

"You know who we are?" She asked in surprise.

"More like Fate wants us to in a very cruel way," Feige said bitterly.

"Dårlig, what happened to you two? Why on Earth are you in the Fiskes' kitchen?" Marius asked.

"The Simian Witch changed time, that's what!" Dårlig got rid of his apron and threw it in the chute. "Shortly after you left the hospital back in our time, Penna and the others came in combat with the Simian Witch's allies. She didn't kill us, but she left us to deal with Voldemort unleashing his invasion sooner than expected. We think he began to suspect that she was onto a scheme far worse than his. She even took Ruby with her to Isla Simia to make sure she wouldn't get hurt in the conflict."

"Voldemort's minions attacked Auradon and Penna and her father actually went on into a fight. Then, when the Simian Witch activated the Saturnium, they froze themselves for safety and the world changed around us. We found ourselves stuck here, remembering what happened but forced to serve an alternate Simian Witch," Feige said.

"But why do you still remember?" Audrey asked.

"It might have to do with the witch's time mess," Dårlig said. "In our time, Penna messed with so many lives, it led to multiple fates. But since Penna never got involved with our parents, we must have been immune to the effects!"

"And it explains why kids like Jay, Charles, Sean, and Gabriel aren't alive, why Mal and her mom are powerless, and why everyone has different fates!" Marius said. "Penna caused the creation of many heroes, villains, and antiheroes along with their children, but without her, their fates have changed. And for those she did nothing to, they remember!"

"Wait. Let me get rid of this for you." Lonnie the Karate Commando did a perfect kick and sliced Feige's metal hair 'decoration' in half. The hair released itself like a colorful bonfire.

"Man! I thought I'd never get this off me!" Feige grumbled. "I don't know why Fate made me and Dårlig the Fiske's personal kitchen scum, but I had this metal thing placed on me to keep my hair down."

"So what's the next step?" Dårlig asked Marius.

"Get this timeline's version of the Saturnium so that we can fix things." The prince explained to them how he and Gladiola came to encounter Amanda Von Stiltskin and how they ironically needed to make the original Simian Witch see her mistakes and fix time before everything went into oblivion.

"OK, there's an easy part and a hard part," Feige said. "The easy part is that the Saturnium is in the top of the largest pile in the treasure room, which is only twelve doors away from here."

"What does the security look like?" Tara the Computer Hacker asked. "How many guards are at the doors?"

Feige turned to Marius and Gladiola. "Remember how the freaks from the Raft said that a sea monster was chained to the bottom of the Raft and keeping the prison in underwater level?"

"Oh, don't tell me." Gladiola rolled her eyes. "The Fiskes decided to go cheap and just put Kalai Tamatoa in the treasure room as their personal dragon?"

"Cheap _and_ sadistic," Rebel Audrey grumbled. "Tara, pull out your map of the treasure room."

Tara pulled a holographic depiction of a cylindrical, windowless room with the same height as the Sistine Chapel. Piles of gold, sapphire gems, monkey idols, and victory treasures were depicted filling the room to the half of its height. At the top of the highest pile, the Saturnium was seen half-buried. "I got a visual of the treasure room, but not of the monster. It's probably not showing in the radar because the Fiskes don't want us to expect a giant monster crab guarding the treasures. We could sneak around and use the ring of pillars as shelter, but God knows what we'll happen if we go into the open space."

"We must create a diversion," Gitane the Word Manipulator declared.

Gladiola snapped her fingers. "Paena's dad fought Tamatoa himself. I don't see why his daughter Kalai would not have the same flaws as him. Good thing that most villains have the same flaws."

Marius grinned. "Prepare Operation Pride Games."

 _Minutes later_

Dårlig and Feige hadn't joked when they said that the treasure room was unguarded from the outside. There wasn't even a door. Just a red painted doorway and a dreadfully inviting WELCOME matt. Marius took a quick check in before flying to the top and hiding in a curved space in the ceiling rotunda.

Step 1 of Operation Pride Games: Gladiola, Gitane the Word Manipulator, and Feige played the diversion while their loud voices silenced the stealth of the others as they spread behind the pillars. Dårlig and Rebel Audrey went left while Lonnie the Karate Commando and Tara the Computer Hacker went right.

"Oh, boy!" Gladiola said very loudly. "I am SO glad that we were able to make it through traffic!"

"I know, right?" Gitane agreed in the same volume. "I can't wait to meet Kalai Tamatoa! She's like a superstar among the sea monsters!"

From the rotunda, Marius noticed that the treasures were beginning to shake. Good. Kalai Tamatoa was close to pouncing.

"I would LOVE to scrapbook her glory in glitters, but where is she?" Gladiola continued her fake ranting.

"Boy, would I love to have a T-Shirt with her face on it!" Feige said.

The treasures started cascading down or moving upward. Marius had to hide further in his spot while his eyes noticed that the Saturnium was among the treasures stuck on the rising head. As for the diversion girls, they dropped their jaws when they saw the giant monster kneeling before them to make sure that her big head wouldn't bring the ceiling down.

They expected a giant crab. Instead, they were looking at a giant dirty pearl skinned teenager. Her golden and purple shoulder-long hair was as messy and tangled as seaweed, her pink-and black leather jacket tight on her form, and her full bodysuit's legs had patterns of seaweed in a gradient from purple to light blue. She wore chunky heeled shoes made of shining glitters, a coral headband pulled her hair back, and she wore black fingerless gloves. It was only when she made herself more comfortable that they realized the 'crab side of her': giant crab legs hung from her back while antennas stuck out of her head.

"Fans! Finally!" When Kalai shouted those words, she spoke as if she was underwater and the bubbles made her gurgle.

"Oh, great crabbiness!" Gitane, Gladiola, and Feige knelt before the monster. "We are worthless fans!"

"You praise and fear me," Kalai said. "How is that worthless?" It would only be worthless if she bothered to realize that Marius flew faster than a gnat and ripped the Saturnium off her head, making her yelp as if she had gotten a hair plucked. It was time for Dårlig, Audrey, Tara, and Lonnie to attack by shooting tranquilizing darts onto her hands. Kalai didn't move from her position.

"I got it!" Marius joined the others and held up the Saturnium. "Now we can go back in time and fix this whole mess!"

"Great! Bye-bye, Fiske Empire, hello Auradon!" Gladiola gave Feige a high-five.

Marius walked up to Dårlig. "You happen to know the date of when Penna turned evil, right?"

"Voldemort's daughter?"

Kalai had said that, which prompted the others to look at her. "You heard of her?" Marius asked cautiously.

"Wait!" Rebel Audrey looked warily at Kalai. "Swear on the River Styx that you aren't lying."

"Already done. My species of crabs is incapable of lying but we are quite blunt," Kalai grunted. She looked back at Marius. "I'm half as old as my father. I heard about Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle, or as she was nicknamed by her creator 'Penna De Mort'. He intended to make her his 'pain of death' or his 'death sentence'."

"Funny, considering how she tried to kill him," Dårlig said.

"But Penelope never turned evil," Kalai said.

"Because in our time, she did, but the Simian Witch used her version of this to prevent it." Marius showed the Saturnium to Kalai. "We have to get _our_ Simian Witch to fix the mistake she made before all the existing worlds, including ours and yours, gets destroyed."

"So that explains why I feel like I woke up from a black blur and found myself watching the treasures of those baboons!" Kalai growled. "Wait, what do I do in your time?"

"Almost a similar thing to this except you're underwater and you have a prison chained to your back."

Kalai looked like she was pondering and shrugged. "Meh. Fish make better companions than dead skeletons."

"So, if Penna... I mean, Penelope never turned evil, what happened to her?" Lonnie the Karate Commando asked.

"Well, her school crush admitted to her that he was in love with her and the true love's kiss they shared broke all the hard work Voldemort put on her and he disintegrated. Classic happy ending... until she then finds out that her Prince Charming wasn't as charming as she thought."

"What? But Penna always told us that Mandire Sullivan was nice to her, never ostracized her like the other students, and he fit Voldemort's general expectations in wizards!" Feige was shocked. "Pureblood and Slytherin!"

"Please! There's no such thing as a _nice_ Slytherin!" Kalai rolled her eyes. "People change easily. As they continued their relationship, Mandire hoped to make a submissive partner out of Penelope since he was brought up in a rather misogynist family. Penelope lost all her powers when her father disappeared for good, but she kept an inner strength from her late mother, reminding her of the pain Penelope's mother and paternal grandmother had to endure. She defied Mandire's desires, so he viciously defiled her and she ended her life miserably in a convent."

Marius wished he were deaf. It would substitute the feeling of rolling his eyes away like marbles that he was having right now. What on Earth was wrong with people from the human realm, treating a partner like a fragile flower that eventually turns into a bag of fleas, left to be abandoned until somebody would pick it up? Is this what Penna would have ended up with if she hadn't turned evil from her heartbreak? Be free just to end heartbroken? Live ruined in an old monastery to die?

He gritted her teeth. He bet that the Simian Witch expected that to happen. After all, even when he started dating Penna, many still had a hard time believing that Penna was capable of love.

Marius was so emotionally irritated, he hadn't noticed that the others were staring at him.

"You love her a lot, don't you?" Kalai guessed.

Marius looked up at the crab-human hybrid. Kalai gave a small nod. Her antennae managed to fight back the tranquilizer and move down, fidgeting with the keys and turning them to a specific date.

"Wednesday, June 5th, 1916. I set it up one day before the fateful day. Go rescue her."

"I'm confused," Marius frowned. "Why are you helping us?"

"If I ever run into you in your time, I swear I'll eat you alive if you tell anyone that your story has made me soft."

Marius nodded. He turned to face the nearest wall and almost used the chant that the Simian Witch had used to open the time portal, but for inexplicable reason, the keys spun automatically and the spinning vortex appeared, only his was purple.

"You wouldn't happen to be a descendant of Titania and Oberon, would you?" Kalai raised an impressed eyebrow. Marius nodded. "It seems like your ancestors are in your favor."

"You guys go on to save your world," Rebel Audrey shook hands with Marius. "We'll see if we can free Kalai."

"Really?" Kalai was excited.

"Are you kidding? You could terrorize the Fiske army with your legs! The rebels would win!" Lonnie the Karate Commando held out her arms.

They wasted no time in small talks. Marius and Gladiola went through the portal, with Dårlig and Feige following them. They crossed the portal, only to face the wall as if they just went through the doorway. It was only then that they saw the walls turning into sand that faded away into the wind, the treasures turned into earth, and the living beings from the Fiske Empire timeline turned into ash. Grey clouds covered the rotunda. From the rubble, hills grew and trees rose from those hills, the teenagers had to run and move in order to avoid getting thrown into the air by them. Finally, crows screeching and flying with the small cold breeze indicated that the time transformation was over.

Feige was the first one to react. She jumped up the branches of a tree and looked up from the top. "It's Hogwarts alright!"

"Are you sure?" Dårlig shouted.

"It looks exactly like in Penna's old postcard collection! We're a few feet away from the Shrieking Shack and Hogsmeade, so Hogwarts itself must be west from here." Feige jumped back down. "So what's the plan?" She asked Marius.

"We have to make sure that Penna turns evil," Marius said. "Yes, I know this is not something I would normally say. First, we need to find out when the Simian Witch showed up at this time and what she did to make sure that Penna did get her kiss with Mandire. If I were time traveling to change something, I'd want to know the concepts."

"It's a good thing we serve Penna," Dårlig said. "The first time we started working for her, we asked her how she turned evil and though she wouldn't get into further details, she said that it all started when she got an owl at the Three Broomsticks."

"Owl? Three Broomsticks?" Marius was confused.

"Owl is the mailing mode for wizards and Three Broomsticks is a pub at Hogsmeade," Gladiola explained. "Sternia says they make the best butterbeer."

Dårlig nodded. "Penna said that she was having a drink alone at the Three Broomsticks when an owl delivered to her a letter from Mandire, telling her to meet him at the school courtyard the next day for something important. Maybe the Simian Witch got that information."

"And we'll make sure she doesn't get it," Marius said in determination.

 _Half an hour later_

After Feige used a Troll trick of hers, making bracelets out of her hair, to have the others pull off disguises, they headed to Hogsmeade. Each of them pretended to be a Hogwarts student, with Gladiola in Ravenclaw, Feige in Slytherin, Dårlig in Hufflepuff, and Marius in Gryffindor. The latter had to admit, wearing the house's wool sweater to hide his wings was irritating.

They got themselves into position. Dårlig sat outside with six bottles of butterbeer, pretending to be drunk while actually observing if whether or not the Simian Witch was coming from the street. Feige was in the pub's upper floor, watching from the open front window for any sign of an owl coming. Gladiola trolled around the enchanted piano at the back of the pub while Marius took care of the main event.

He had to admit, Gladiola hadn't lied when Sternia said that the Three Broomsticks made the best butterbeer. After getting himself a mug, Marius felt the creamy drink enchanting all the nerves in his stomach. It was like drinking sparkling nectar combined with Auradonian ice cream!

After looking around, he found what he was looking for. Just at the corner on the left, past the lit stone fireplace, all alone in a table for two, was Penna. Or at least, her past self Penelope.

As he slowly walked towards her, Marius had to admit that Penelope almost looked liked an ordinary teenager if you discarded her famous misery. She wore her wrinkled Slytherin uniform: wool vest, white long-sleeved shirt, green-and-white tie, grey skirt, black wool tights, and green flats. She kept her long black-and-teal streaked hair in a ponytail, just like in the flashback he had seen, only instead of a thirteen-year-old, she was a fifteen-year-old turning sixteen. A pile of books rested by her side, which he had seen many students at Auradon Prep do when they had to study for exams.

"Hello," he greeted Penelope.

Penelope brought her head up. Her eyes blinked and she quickly looked around the room. "I apologize," she told Marius, "are you sure you mean me?"

Wow! Marius was shocked to hear the past Penelope speak in a Received Pronunciation accent. The Penna De Mort he knew had zero accent when she spoke, it was like she never came from any country at all. But in the time he was now, it was evident that she was raised by an evil lord hailing from England.

"I do mean you." Marius smiled and pulled a chair over to sit down, facing her. "You seemed rather lonely."

Penelope still looked confusingly at him. She closed the book she was reading to make sure she wasn't crazy. "You aren't really from Hogwarts, are you?" She asked cautiously.

"Is it that obvious?" Marius was surprised.

"You clearly look like a hybrid of Genus Fae and a taller, flying distant cousin of the goblins. Unless they're half-Muggle half-wizard, hybrid students are never seen at Hogwarts," Penelope said. "Besides, more than three quarters of the Gryffindor students bully me. I think I'd remember a nice Gryffindor when I see one."

"Touché," Marius said. "I'm just visiting Hogsmeade. I'm only wearing Hogwarts merchandise because it's the warmest thing I could find in the local stores."

"Did it have to be Gryffindor though?" Penelope pointed out.

 _She does have her future self's sense of dry humor_ , Marius thought.

"I'm not really into badgers and ravens," he shrugged. "I'm not saying that I like lions, but I don't deserve snakes."

"Because they're evil?"

"They only get dangerous when you purposely trigger fear for them. I don't think I deserve to represent a misjudged beast when I've done harm to its kind."

This caused Penelope to smile a little.

 _Meanwhile, outside_

Dårlig barely uncorked his third bottle of butterbeer when he picked up the distant scent and noise of the Simian Witch.

Very few people know that the line of Royal Bergen Chefs has been trained to have a keen sense of odor and hearing. Unless it was to cook Trolls, Bergen Chefs have been relied on to use their tricks to chase a fugitive.

Dårlig picked up the odor of that ghastly chrysanthemum perfume the Simian Witch had on her. It indicated that she was just outside of Hogsmeade and making her way. The odor also told Dårlig that the Simian Witch had disguised herself in a wizard's cloak to avoid recognition.

" _The letter was intercepted by a Death Eater on patrol at the Three Broomsticks. After Penelope got the owl, she sent it back to Mandire with her reply but the Death Eater captured the owl and snitched the letter to Voldemort_ ," his ears heard the witch mutter under her teeth from five blocks away. " _I have to dispose of the Death Eater and hand over the letter to Mandire Sullivan myself."_

"Playing matchmaker, I see." Dårlig looked around. He spotted the sorceress' cloak making a turn. Up in the sky, an owl was making its distant way towards the pub. He had to think fast. Luckily, he spotted a group of Hogwarts third years and whistled at them.

"Hey guys! How about three free bottles of butterbeer in exchange of assaulting that woman with snowballs?"

 _Minutes later_

Feige smirked at the sight of Dårlig doing his fair trade. The kids bought it and now the Simian Witch was dealing with school children tossing her enchanted snowballs. She was so distracted, she did not notice the albino barn owl fly towards the open window. Feige grabbed the owl, ripped the envelope off its talon, and shooed the owl with her hair and watched it fly back into the sky.

She cautiously looked from the window. The snowball fight was still ongoing and Dårlig was casually sitting on the bench. Then, he tapped his fingers on the wooden bench in a repetitive form. Feige smirked. She and Dårlig used Morse code to make sure that one would send a secret message without getting caught. It was like in school, when they first started dating and he'd tap her Morse messages from his desk.

 **WITCH WANTS PREVENT DEATH EATER FROM SNITCHING. DEATH EATER IN PUB. GIVE LETTER TO PENNA AND MAKE SURE DEATH EATER GETS IT.**

"Finding a Death Eater. Jolly." Feige tucked the letter in her jacket and headed down the stairs. She quickly took a glance and saw Marius doing a friendly chat with the past Penna to the point of seemingly helping her get ready for her exams. Feige headed to the back, where she found Gladiola leaning boringly on the piano.

"Did you find anything?" Gladiola got up from her boredom.

"Yes and no. The yes part is that Dårlig managed to distract the Simian Witch and I stole the letter from the owl. Apparently one of the Death Eaters stole Penna's reply note and snitched to her dad. The Simian Witch was planning on disposing of the Death Eater so that she could give Mandire the reply himself."

"And... the no part?"

Feige chuckled awkwardly. "You have to find the Death Eater in the pub while I hand the letter to Penna."

Gladiola's eyes widened. "You want me to find a Death Eater?" She waved her arms at the crowd on the other side of the building. "Hello! There must be around thirty wizards and witches in the Three Broomsticks! Do you expect me to just walk up to every patron and ask them to roll up their sleeves so I can see their marks of villainy?"

"Believe me, I've lived with Bloodyle, Drystan, Bayen, Brittany, and Roedor while working for Penna De Mort. These guys have such bad behavior, their one flaw is that they're bad at hiding their evident psychotic racism." Feige toyed with her bracelet and she pulled the facade of a redheaded Slytherin she had spotted walking outside and walked towards Marius and Penna.

 _Meanwhile, at Penelope's table_

"Wow, you really know your way around Muggle Studies," Marius complimented Penelope as she closed her last book.

She shrugged. "Well, when you're surrounded by Muggle haters, you get around."

"But you aren't being tested on segregation against Muggles," Marius said.

"My... father really insists that I take Muggle Studies seriously. I do well in that in school, but the real issue is when he gets 'true tutors' among his followers to teach me how barbarian Muggles are." She sighed. "I hate it. I've met a good deal of nice Muggle-borns."

"Emily Rosefinks?" Marius accidentally blurted out.

"I guess you heard about it, huh?" Penelope said sadly.

"I only heard that she was murdered... and the Death Eater who was ordered into it did it out of fear for the Dark Lord." Marius should have kept himself, but he couldn't resist and took Penelope's hand. "I know it's none of my business, but if that Death Eater did embrace evil, it wouldn't be because the Dark Lord forced her into it but because she had the guts to stand up to him and be her own villain because she believed that she could make a difference."

Penelope blinked, unsure if she should shocked or touched. "That's... the oddest pep talk I ever got."

"Sorry." Marius let go of her.

"It's not that!" Penelope reassured him. "It's just that not even my father or his followers would give me that kind of pep talk about being evil because it's all my choice."

Before Marius could blurt out anything, a redheaded Slytherin girl approached. "Penelope? Hi. How are you?" She gave a small wave.

"Abigail Mazeburg?" Penelope frowned. "You never say 'hi' to me."

"Really?" 'Abigail' was sweating. She shoved the letter to Penelope. "Here! Mandire Sullivan told me to give you this!"

"Mandire?" Penelope's eyes gleamed and she quickly ripped off the Slytherin seal from the envelope. Marius scowled with bitterness, with what he knew about Mandire being an actual asshole, as Penelope read the letter thoroughly and squealed. "Oh my Salazar! Mandire is asking me to meet him at the Owlery tomorrow at three so he can tell me something!" She dreamily hugged the letter. "This is the best day ever!"

"He also asked that you put a reply note in the envelope and that I return it back to him," 'Abigail' said. Penelope wasted no time and grabbed a scrap of paper and a quill to write down her answer. She tucked it the envelope and used a spell to seal the thing properly. "Thanks, Abigail."

" _Sure._ "

"I can't believe it! He's going to tell me!" Penelope hurried to stuff her books in her bags.

"I'm so happy for you," Marius said insincerely. "You know, my mom says that the best way to make yourself more desirable in a secret rendezvous is to act natural and be five minutes fashionably late."

"I'll remember that. Thank you so much!" Penelope hugged both of them and rushed outside as fast as he could. Dårlig stepped inside the pub and followed them to the back as 'Abigail' dragged Marius and forced him to sit on a crate while she turned back into Feige.

"What?" He protested at her dark scowl.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" She asked sternly.

"What happened?" Dårlig asked.

"His Highness couldn't keep himself." Feige shook her head. "Marius, it's time travel! I know you love Penna, but you can't just... be like that when we already have to make sure that Penelope turns evil!"

"I couldn't keep myself." Marius crossed his arms and pouted. "With the way Mandire turned out to be an asshole in the Fiske Empire timeline, I actually think the Dark Lord did the decent think of having Penna kill Mandire!"

"Pal... It happens to every second boyfriend or ex-boyfriend to get jealous at the other guy when it comes to hooking up with the girl," Dårlig reassured him.

Just then, Gladiola stepped from the shadows. Her lavender skin looked unusually pale.

"Gladiola! Did you find the Death Eater snitch?" Feige asked.

"I think it was the other way around..." Gladiola said weakly.

Right on cue, tall black shadows with silver masks and diverse wands stepped out of the shadows, forcing the three of them to be surrounded. Gladiola was moved further close, revealing that she had her right arm held in the back by a Death Eater while his dagger threatened her left temple.

"Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" Dårlig complained.

"Well, we should have seen this coming," Feige sighed.

"Hello," Marius said calmly. "Bayen."

The son of Bellatrix Lestrange gave them a sadistic look of joy. "We'll have fun when you're brought forth to the Dark Lord."


	45. Past Evil Redone

Chapter 45: Past Evil Redone

It's been commonly told that if there's one thing guys always dread when they're dating, it's meeting the girl's father and risk a 'You Are Not Worthy Of My Baby' speech.

Well, to all the boys out there, let us reassure you. If you think your girlfriend's fathers are frightening, then you'll be bound to realize that compared to Marius' situation, these guys are cotton candy.

The Death Eaters wasted no time to shackle the heroes and cover their heads with bags. Darkness made them feel like vomiting (though Feige later explained that it was the wizard's teleportation magic). When the bags were removed from their heads, they gulped. They were no longer in the landscape of Hogwarts but in a thundering landscape just outside of the Greater London (they could even hear the Big Ben ring in the distance). A black-bricked castle with glowing venom-green cement stood before them and was surrounded by a garden of thorn bushes, black roses, and living carnivorous mandrake plants that shrieked. The Death Eaters put earmuffs on and Bayen was generous enough to place some on top of the prisoners' ears.

"The adult Mandrakes' cries are lethal," he said. "I'd hate to drag your dead bodies inside the Dark Lord's manor before the master manages to kill you himself during his interrogation."

"Then please, do take us to him." Marius motioned his arms towards the door of the evil Burlington House replica. Bayen frowned and opened the door. The Death Eaters led them inside the castle. The gothic atmosphere in it was twice as creepy as Penna's own house in the Malevia Village. The walls inside were the same as the one outside, only perfectly clean. The black oak floor was well waxed, they could see their reflections walking upside down. The castle wasn't really cluttered with furniture boasting the wealth of its residences, but it did give a hint of how evil its lord was. The columns and stairs were made of venom green emeralds with carving of snakes biting Muggles, the hanging tapestry were pictures of the De Mort family's ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, and the ceiling was the home of silver chandeliers that looked more like bundled up nests for tree snakes hanging in the air.

"I never imagined the Dark Lord's home to be so... empty," Marius challenged himself to start a conversation. "A man of high status like he is not wanting to show off his immense power and fortune to the unworthy ones?"

"The Dark Lord is the most modest wizard there is," Bayen said. "His surroundings speak out his clear mind and his clear visions of the future."

"So he is the picture of Magnanimity, with the visions of great future!" Marius pounded his chest to act amazed. Only Dårlig, Gladiola, and Feige frowned unimpressed. "It's a pity I'm a hybrid! I will never live to see his dark generosity bless the reign of pureblood legacies!"

 _OK, maybe I'm going a little overboard_ , Marius thought.

"For your sake, hybrid, I hope your honesty saves that silver tongue of yours." Bayen opened a dark door leading to a large dining room with a large table matching the color of the floors. At the other end sat a man rubbing his eyes in fatigue while a large snake cuddled at his feet.

Marius had to admit, Voldemort actually looked more of a wreck than he did back in the present when he revealed himself. His eyes had dark shades underneath, the smoke coming from his head looked like it was turning into a storm, and his clothes were far more strict uniforms. He clearly fit the role of a hardworking dad exasperated with the teenage brat he was trying to mold to be just like him.

" **Well, what do we have here?** " The familiar voice of the Dark Lord spoke up. " **Two Trolls, a Bergen, and...** " He frowned when his eyes caught sight of Marius. " **I am clueless as to what kind of creature you are.** "

"He's part goblin, part fae, my lord." Bayen lowered his head as he spoke to his master. "We found these non-humans trolling in The Three Broomsticks." Bayen waved his finger at Feige and Marius. "These two in particular accosted your daughter. Something about a letter."

Voldemort's eyebrows arched at the mention of his daughter. As if to synchronize with his negative reaction, a giant snake slithered on top of his chair and rested its head on Voldemort's laps. As the villain caressed his pet's head, Marius noticed how the snake looked a whole lot like Naga. It must mean that the snake currently present was Nagini, Naga's mother.

"We were indeed about a letter," Marius said. "It was originally meant to be intercepted by Bayen, but we know a witch who wanted to rid of him so that the letter would return to its sender."

"What?" Bayen said.

"I swear on the River Styx that I do not lie," Marius said. "You see, we used a time-turner to come here. In our time, the witch had a horrible desire of vengeance against Miss De Mort, she decided to go back in time to change what will happen in this time."

Voldemort leaned forward. Nagini slithered to the ground until she was a few inches away from Marius's face. Marius just stared at Nagini's pitch black eyes with complete focus. _If you stare at her with complete focus on her eyes, she'll know if you mean any harm to her._ Penna's words echoed in Marius' head. His hand then held out to Nagini. Her first reaction was to hiss at him, but after more patient staring, she tapped her tongue on his palm and started nuzzling on his chest. Just like her offspring, she gave the prince licks on the cheek, only hers were as wet as those of a Saint Bernard.

" **How's that possible?** " Voldemort was stunned.

"Nagini is showing affection to someone else other than her owner," Bayen gasped.

Voldemort got up. He shouted an incantation that caused the locks on Marius' shackles to fall apart. He took Mandire's letter from Bayen's hands.

" **Keep an eye on the other three without harming them,** " Voldemort told his Death Eaters. " **I will have a private talk with the hybrid."**

 _Minutes later, in Voldemort's office_

Voldemort read the letter over three times. Once he finally memorized the words and they were registered in his head, he folded the letter.

" **Let me understand this, hybrid** ," he looked at Marius, who was clutching on the fabric of the black armchair he was sitting on. " **The time-gambling witch... wants my daughter to meet up with Mandire.** "

"It's what she expects," Marius nodded. "Before the witch messed with time, you found out that Mandire wanted to secretly meet with Penna. You were against them being together, so you used an Unforgivable Curse on Mandire to trick Penna into believing he loved someone else. She felt betrayed and enraged that she killed him on the spot. That's how she got her sixteenth Horcrux and turned evil. When my friends and I came to this time, we learned that the way you learned of the meeting was that Bayen snatched the letter and brought it to you. Therefore, the enemy hoped to get Bayen out of the way so that Penna's reply could get to Mandire and the kiss would happen."

" **And what do you suppose would happened if Mandire did get my daughter's reply and they met up without my interference?** "

"Your plans for her would fail." _Granted, they still fail in the future,_ Marius thought. "And she'll die miserably in a convent."

A smirk that Marius did not expect appeared on Voldemort's face. The Dark Lord leaned on his chair. " **She'd have discovered his disgusting misogyny.** "

"You know about it?" Marius frowned.

" **Hybrid, I may be a hypocritical racist when it comes to beings who aren't pureblood, but I have my respects for women. My father...** "

"I know, he was a Muggle that your mother hypnotized with a love potion, they eloped, and then he ditched her when she removed the potion off him, leaving her to die shortly after you were born!" Marius grumbled in exasperation. "You know how tired I am of constantly hearing that story?"

" **They made my real identity** _ **PUBLIC**_ **in your time**?" Voldemort demanded. " **How is that possible?** "

"Penna made it clear that she despised being your child, even when she turned evil. She always kept saying that people expecting her to be as evil as you preventing her to be her own villain. She didn't even like having the kids of your Death Eaters around, that's why she preferred getting other people as her minion slash surrogate family." _She's even terrified about her heritage ruining our relationship,_ he thought.

" **And you?** " Voldemort leaned forward. " **What's your significance?** "

"What?"

" **Don't play dumb, with me!"** Voldemort stood up. Nagini, who had been relaxing at a corner, perked up and slithered so that she could shield Marius from her master. " **See, even Nagini protects you! Aside from me, Nagini respects no one but Penelope and all Penelope has to do is use the tactic you used to calm my snake down! You expect me to believe you learned that trick by reading a book?"**

"And you?" Marius asked calmly. "Why does it matter to you if whether or not I have any significance with Penna?"

Normally, we'd advise against using such a tone in front of the Dark Lord. Voldemort did not pull out his wand, but he did raise his hand to slap Marius. The slap couldn't occur, though, since an odd teal force field covered Marius and shielded him from Voldemort, who couldn't even slap his way through.

" **What?** " Voldemort backed away in shock. " **This force field is just like the one that shielded the Potter brat...** " The realization fell on him like bricks. " **Penelope loves you in your time**."

"You're sure it's not just some kind of time traveling gig?"

" **You're half fairy, don't you know this? When a wizard or witch gives a lot of love to a certain somebody and that love is mutual, the love can transform into a protective shield that protects the loved one from even the deadliest of the Unforgivable Curses. You and my daughter evidently have a relationship!** "

"Am I to be executed?"

Voldemort froze. He did not expect such a reaction from a prisoner. Marius just sat there, asking if Voldemort was going to kill him in a very calm manner. Nagini reacted first. She coiled herself on top of Marius' lap and shook her head at her master.

" **Why would you think I'd kill you, hybrid?** "

"Because I love your daughter in my time." Nagini slithered away when she sensed Marius getting up. "And because you and the Simian Witch make me sick! You're both so confident you can bend the rules of nature and care less on how it affects your children! You treat you own flesh and bloods as if they are nothing but perfect creations for pawns!" Marius angrily stormed towards Voldemort, who actually had to back away in fright. "You both could care less if what you do leads to an apocalypse and most likely to the destruction of reality! So yes, _Tom Marvolo,_ I may be a repulsive hybrid without magic, but I don't fear you! So if you know what's best, WILL YOU BRAINWASH MANDIRE ALREADY?"

Voldemort gulped. He wasted no time and turned into a shadow. Marius watched him fly out of the window and into the dark horizon. Nagini whistled in impressment.

Bayen, who had been eavesdropping from the other side of the door, opened up. "I can't believe it. You managed to _bully_ the Dark Lord!"

"Eh." Marius shrugged. "Losing Penna is scarier than being killed by the Killing Curse."

 _The next morning_

Marius never imagined that the guest room in the De Mort house would be so cozy. After the meeting with Voldemort, Bayen had brought him to a guest room and Marius immediately collapsed on the bed. The exhaustion of time traveling was wearing him down. When he woke up, the Brittany Crouch of the past brought him a set of black clothing suited for a winged-fairy. They fit him nicely after he took a chamomile bubble bath. Brittany Crouch didn't say anything at all and merely dropped him off at the kitchen. In one night, Dårlig had managed to befriend the mansion's cook and they were serving pancakes.

"I can't believe you managed to scream at Voldemort and live," Feige applauded when Marius sat down.

"Hold your applause, I don't even know where he went," the prince said.

"The Dark Lord went and succeeded to place an Imperius Curse on Mandire Sullivan." They turned and saw Bayen stepping into the kitchen. "It appears you were right, hybrid. Sullivan has invited the master's daughter to a meeting. In fact, the master has requested that I bring you back at Hogwarts after breakfast to witness the event."

"Jolly. It's Mt. Vesuvius all over again." Dårlig waved a plate of freshly cooked pancakes and stuffed them onto Bayen's. "Here you go. Plantain and cranberry flavored pancakes for you, Bayen."

"How did you know I... You know what? Thank you." Bayen sat down and took a large bite of his pancakes. "Hey, this is delicious."

"OK, pancakes aside, we have another problem to deal with." Gladiola wiped her mouth with a napkin. "What about the Simian Witch? With her original attempt botched, she's bound to give her second shot. Problem is, we don't know where she is."

"Or when," Marius sighed. "I mean, she only has five trips left. Perhaps she stayed a bit longer in this time if she was uncertain about what is to happen. In other words, she might come to spy on the rendezvous. After all, preventing Penna's turn _is_ her goal."

"I bet I could track her by sniffing that ghastly perfume of hers, but who knows how many witches have it in this time?" Dårlig shrugged as he scrubbed a pan.

"Wait a minute, I know a spell!" Bayen got up and pulled out his wand. "The spell can extract the parcel of perfume that you picked up and use it as a homing device. Quick, what was the perfume flavor?"

"Chrysanthemum, but..."

" _Accio Chrysanthemum Perfumo_!"

Bayen waved his wand at Dårlig's nose. The Bergen's body twisted and he made disgusted noise while a blue ribbon made of air pulled out of his nostrils. It went to coil around Bayen's wand and formed a blue arrow that pointed towards the exit.

"Revolting, but practical," Marius said. "Let's go find the Simian Witch."

 _Much later_

There were times when they wished Marius would eat his words.

Bayen used his teleporting powers to transport them all towards the destination of the homing perfume. Positively speaking, it was on Hogwarts grounds. Negatively speaking, the teens landed to see the perfume arrow circling the Shrieking Shack.

"We could set it on fire and see if it persuades the Simian Witch to come out," Bayen suggested.

"I got it." Gladiola waved her Torch of Happiness. " _The situation is dire, so please set this shack on fire!"_ The Torch of Happiness shot a blast of rainbow flames at the Shrieking Shack, turning it into a sparkling bonfire made of glitter.

"Wow. You know how to make persecution artistic." Bayen commented.

"Thanks, I try to avoid it." Gladiola started doing a countdown with her fingers. "Three, two, one..." Just as her Hug bracelet went off, something exploded out of the Shrieking Shack's chimney. It burned a pine tree down and created a wall of blue fire on the grass.

The Simian Witch was here and she was _burning._

" _You!_ " She spat at Marius.

"Surprised?" He asked drily.

"I wish." She threw her arms out. Giant balls of fire were flying at Marius direction.

" _Aguamenti!_ " Bayen used his wand to summon a wall of water to wash away the balls of fire. The Simian Witch growled and punched the earth, causing the new mud to shake turn into mud monkey golems.

" _Mud golems, I don't want to die, so hit the Simian Witch with mud pie!_ " Gladiola had the attacking golems transform into mud pies that flew back at the sorceress, only for her to squeeze her fists and reduces the pies into blades that flew right at the teens. They managed to duck, but the trees behind them suffered of dicing.

Marius flew at ground level and grabbed a club-sized thick branch that he used to hit the Simian Witch on the side. She stumbled onto the ground and held out her hand, using the air to form a solid bo staff that she used to counterattack the prince's attacks. Luckily, he was good at defense. He even managed to use his knee to block her from kicking him.

"You really don't know how to mind your own business, do you?" She growled.

"And you don't know anything about me." To the shock of the others, Marius spit right at the sorceress' eyes. The saliva stung on her eyes that she had to let go of her staff and tend to her hurting eyes. "Fun fact. Goblin saliva is just as bad as platypus venom. Very active in mating season, and in my case, you hurt _my mate_." He sent her flying with a kick towards a tree. Dårlig threw his knives to clip her fabric to the tree and Bayen and Gladiola used their tricks to turn the knives' blades into solid chains that strapped the Simian Witch to the tree solid.

She kept whimpering at the pain of her eyes. Marius walked up to her. He turned his back on her and shook his wings. Wing dust fell from his shaking and he flapped his wings to blow the dust towards her eyes. The dust sank into her skin and the Simian Witch began to see clearly with the stinging gone.

"Uh?" She was just as confused as the others were at watching Marius cure her. Just then, in the distance, a giant purple explosion occurred where Hogwarts was in the distance. The large shadow of what would become the evil Penna could be seen in the explosive clouds.

"Voldemort succeeded in turning Penna evil," Marius said in a small smile.

"Never realized she nuked the place," Feige said.

Marius turned to look at the angry Simian Witch. "I hope you can commence realizing that your plan is a waste of time."

"No. I got all my time." She took a deep breath and spit something into her hand. As the saliva cleared, they realized that the Simian Witch had managed to miniaturize the Saturnium and hide it in her mouth. She quickly recited the incantation and the red vortex appeared to suck her in.

"Not again!" Marius flew after her. Gladiola, Dårlig, and Feige followed in as well. Bayen was too confused to react and the portal closed before him.

 _God knows when... again_

Marius woke up again in pain to what turned out to be the Hallows' Eye of Dragon Hall. "Is everyone alive?" He got up. "Gladiola, did you get hit in the rainbows?"

"Hilarious." The Troll Princess dusted herself off. Dårlig and Feige, on the other hand, looked completely fine. It appeared that alternate time traveling did not affect them. Once they all assembled, they noticed that the Dragon Hall they were now in was slightly different than the one from the Fiske Empire. Sure, the school was still in ruins, but it looked more like a ruined castle. It still stood, but it was still abandoned.

Marius flew to the nearest window. The remains of the Isle Of The Lost were now a big series of hills covered in blue grass and moonstone boulders. Cyan blue poppies blossomed everyone. Across the waters, a blue illuminating city could be seen shining under the night sky.

"Well, this alternate reality doesn't look worse than the Fiske Empire." Gladiola lit up her Torch of Happiness. She was about to jump on the grass until Feige grabbed her by the forearms and brought her back to the grounds of Dragon Hall.

"Are you nuts? Those are poppies! The blue ones make you fall asleep!" Feige got some sense into Gladiola.

"Wait... don't poppies grow in Artemis Nightmare's home realm?" Marius asked.

"Welcome to the Lunar Dynasty, you dolt."

Marius rolled his eyes. Amanda Von Stiltskin appeared out of nowhere, dressed in a warm green coat and drinking a cup of hot cocoa. Marius opened his mouth to say something, but a large cracking sound interrupted him. The reality cracks were close to the thickness of a car tire.

"Looks like the Simian Witch used the Saturnium to make a second visit to the past." Amanda took a sip. "Four more visits and it's the end of the world."

"Optimistic as usual," Dårlig grumbled.

"At least I still have our Saturnium." Marius held out his copy of the Saturnium. "Problem is, I don't know how the Simian Witch altered time _this time._ I highly doubt she's going to repeat the same tactic."

"Luckily for you, the Lunar Dynasty is ruled by Artemis Nightmare," Amanda finished her mug and juggled it at the tip of her finger.

"Of course! Artemis collects dreams! We can ask him for advice!" Marius snapped his fingers. "And also explore to see what three mistakes to fix."

"Yeah, but how do we guarantee that Artemis remembers us?" Feige pointed out.

"Excellent question, dolt. Why don't you ask his cousin?" Amanda asked.

"His cousin?" Marius asked, but Amanda disappeared as quickly as a Cheshire cat. A sound of marching hooves was heard and something made its way through the remains of the school's front entrance. The group got out and saw a horse-drawn carriage with diamond and moon motifs waiting for them. From the passenger seat jumped a familiar figure.

"Impius!" Marius hugged his pet. "I can't believe I didn't notice you when we went to the past."

"I guess Amanda didn't joke when she said imps are neutral to this stuff."

Somebody stepped out of the carriage to greet them.

"Marius, Gladiola, Dårlig, Feige, darlings," Radiance Nightmare hugged them. "It's wonderful to see you again! Come, my cousin is expecting you!"


	46. The Lunar Dynasty

Chapter 46: The Lunar Dynasty

Compared to the Fiske Empire, the Lunar Dynasty was so far the best alternate reality the group had witnessed. The air was fresh, the bright moon and stars illuminated the sky, and fast forests covered hills. Since it seemed like the kingdom was in eternal night, lampposts were everywhere on the streets, giving rays of blue light and some doses of bearable heat waves. As the carriage went through the city, they saw that the area looked more like a 21st century Hollywood. The sidewalks were made of moonstone, the roads spaced, the citizens wore casual or fancy moon-themed clothing, and the local hangout places like restaurants, shops, etc, had names related to moon. Otherwise, the citizens looked happy.

"For a VK who took over the world, Artemis does know how to make people happy," Feige commented.

"I still don't get it. How come you and Artemis remember us?" Marius asked Radiance.

"We're immortals and dream-hoppers, darling," Radiance said. "When Artemis sensed Lonnie in trouble back in Auradon, he jolted up, only at an unfortunate time. He woke up just in time for him and I to black out. When we regained consciousness, we found ourselves on the moon with our mothers. They were just as confused as we were, until we discovered that someone messed with time. Next thing you know, this happened. My cousin rules the country and I am a duchess."

"OK, just so I get a briefing," Gladiola asked, "what happened to the following: the Fiskes, Ruby, Maleficent, Mal, and basically anyone we know?"

"Yeah." Dårlig moved Impius off his lap and gave him back to Marius. "In the alternate reality where Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch took over the world, Maleficent and Mal were Muggles working as the royal janitors..."

"The Dark Rulers were brainwashed soldiers," Marius nodded.

"Auradon Prep was the Fiske Preparatory School to teach the students subjugation," Gladiola added.

"The bad guys took over," Feige said.

"Most of the VKs or Auradonians we know never existed," Dårlig joined in.

"Frollo, Gaston, and Jafar created a baby factory," Marius shuddered.

"Baby factory?" Radiance frowned.

"Don't ask."

"Oh, and the most insane part was when Audrey led the rebellion and Gitane, Lonnie, and Tara Sam were part of her crew, Feige and Dårlig worked in the royal kitchens, and Kalai tipped us on where to go back in time," Gladiola gasped for air.

Radiance snapped her fingers. Stars appeared out of nowhere to form a scroll. "OK, let's see. In the Lunar Dynasty, the Fiskes are living a tranquil life in the Fiske Castle."

"Did they take over England?" Marius asked skeptically.

"Nope. The worst crime they ever committed was Monkey Fist getting a mid-life crisis. They retired from evil when they had their son. Martin just graduated from Oxford and he's now traveling around the world as a legitimate archeologist."

"That was unexpected. But I guess the Simian Witch did get what she wanted."

"Maleficent and Mal are Muggles in this reality as well, but they live in the suburbs. Mal goes to a human finishing school, which is the replacement of Auradon Prep," Radiance continued. "Dark Rulers, they're not brainwashed but they work as opera orchestra musicians."

"How did a rock band like them end up playing classical music?" Gladiola sighed.

"Most of the descendants we know no longer exist, though the sentence of Frollo, Gaston, and Jafar wasn't as evil as the thought of a _baby factory._ " Radiance shuddered at the thought. "Artemis had restraining orders placed on them, so now they're doomed to live in villas in extinct volcanic islands. They do still have their brides."

"Jolly," Marius grumbled.

"Kalai is somewhere in the ocean. Gitane revolutionized gypsy treatment in Paris, Tara Sam works as a computer operator, Audrey is still a spoiled princess..."

"Phew!" Marius and Gladiola sighed in relief.

"Ruby lives with her parents in the Wayne Manor..."

"Again?" Marius gasped. "How is it possible that Ruby still has the same statement even in a separate alternate reality? In the Fiske Empire, she was in Gotham with her parents living the life of an heiress as if this had been her thing her whole life. Now, in the Lunar Dynasty, that situation is the same?"

"Well, judging by the weird things we've seen, I'm not really surprised," Gladiola commented. "I mean, some of the changes are the same, like Mal and her mom being Muggles or the Trio of Perverts getting married to their desired ones..."

"But that's the thing!" Marius snapped his fingers. "Take Mal and Maleficent. In both alternate realities, they're Muggles, but in the Fiske Empire they were janitors and here they live in the suburban life. As for the married Trio Pervert, first it was the baby factory and now Artemis has them exiled on an island. You think it's normal that while these two scenarios had different situations, Ruby's was _intact_? Like a déjà vu?"

"In that case, you'll have to tell Artemis all about it," Radiance said. As the coach stopped, they realized that they had arrived at the Castle Of The Two Sisters, which had replaced the castle of Auradon. Still, it looked decent. Everything was nicely decorated, the servants dressed in decent clothing and treated with respect when Radiance passed by, and the ceiling was made of moving stars (granted, you all know what it looked like if you read the previous fanfiction).

The door leading to the throneroom was open, but Radiance had the group stay behind before she could make sure that Artemis was available for an audience. Luckily for them, Artemis was just finishing his session. Marius and the others nearly lost their eyeballs behind Radiance when they realized that Artemis was talking to and eventually kissing the hand of Fa Li Lonnie, dressed in a lunar-themed Chinese dress and bearing a crown on her head. Marius was quick to notice the round shape of Lonnie's tummy.

"I can both not believe this but also expect this," Marius choked. "Lonnie is Artemis Nightmare's consort and she's pregnant from him."

"Hm," Feige said. "Considering that he met her frequently in her dreams and willingly let Penna rip his heart to spare Lonnie before they finally dated since January..."

"Wait. Penna ripped Artemis' heart out?" Marius asked.

"Long story short, she needed his mark of villainy as the final touch to take over the world, but since his mark of villainy was his heart, she had to trick him. Cue Minuit and Jessie creating the perfect blackmail plan, blah, blah, blah..."

"Yes, it still gives scars."

Feige and Dårlig yelped as Artemis appeared out of nowhere. "Wait, weren't you in there?" Marius pointed at the throneroom.

"I had Lonnie leave through the back door," Artemis said. "Come in and let's chat."

 _An hour later_

Radiance had the servants bring tea and cakes as refreshments for the guests while Marius narrated the whole adventure. Artemis sat upright on his throne, holding his crescent scepter tightly as he thought and registered the story in his mind.

"So the Simian Witch went to the past two times, she must fix three mistakes, and you noticed that Ruby hasn't changed her sentence," he resumed. "I should be able to help in finding out what went wrong in the past, but I don't know how I can help with the mistakes or explain why Ruby hasn't changed scenarios.

"I think it's because Penna wasn't around to mess up her life. You know, since Penna gave Catwoman that brain damage..." Marius said.

"I'm highly aware," Artemis said firmly. He pounded his staff on the ground, creating a large echoing sound. The back door burst open and white Memorbs floated their way through (if you don't know what the author is talking about, then you _REALLY_ need to read the previous fanfiction thoroughly). "The Memorbs of Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle in this timeline."

"Pause." Feige did a timeout sign. "Did you see any of her dreams?"

"Yes."

"OK, at least we know that Penna's messed up in this timeline."

"Why? I mean, she has nightmares most of the times..." Marius said.

"True, but the evil Penna **never** wanted dream-hoppers wandering in her head," Feige pointed out. "If Artemis can see her dreams, that means she has nothing to hide. Conclusion, she's not evil."

Gladiola was the first one to reach out for a Memorb. She rubbed on it and looked at its content. "Wait, that can't be Penna." She rubbed even harder, causing the Memorb to do a holographic depiction of a lovely maiden with fair skin, pointy ears, beautiful eyes that popped with their blue hawk-like eyeshadow , and long locks of black hair with teal streaks that flowed in the wind as a set of purple zebra swallowtail wings carried her through the sky. Marius blinked at the depiction of the maiden, only to confirm...

"That's Penna." He looked up at Artemis. "That's what she'd be if she never had any Horcrux implanted on her. If her evil and good sides were perfectly balanced, she'd be this."

"A fairy?" Dårlig frowned. "I hate to bust your half-fairy bubble, Marius, but Penna's mother was a demon."

"A _Fae Realm_ nature demon," Marius pointed.

"And it does happen when mixing immortal and mortal has strange effects on the offspring, darling," Radiance agreed. "Rules of nature designate that demon blood mixed with human blood will reduce the demon blood to a more... human-friendly appearance. Naturally, Voldemort would be disgusted to have a fae for an offspring, so using her as his ticket to longer life through Horcruxes was enough to separate her sides even more, and for some way, the angry demon side reacted the most for Penna's evil transformation."

"Probably because Voldemort tricked Penna's mom into going through a labor that would kill her," Dårlig said grimly.

"Wait a minute, that's it!" Marius snapped his fingers. "Penna's had Horcruxes on her at every single birthday until she was sixteen. If she never had a single Horcruxes and thus lived as the fairy she was supposed to be, that means the Simian Witch changed the past somewhere after Penna was born!" Marius went through the Memorbs until he found the very first one. "Bingo!"

"So, what happened to her?" Artemis smirked at how quickly Marius found out.

"It's a little foggy, but I see the main thing. The Simian Witch posed as one of the Death Eaters who was selected to help out Svjetla during her labor. Not only was Penna born, but the Simian Witch also gave Svjetla a cure for the poison Voldemort put on her. The demon mother then took her baby and ran away back to the Fae Realm, and since Voldemort was so distracted trying to find them, he couldn't concentrate on Dumbledore and the other good guys hunting and destroying _his_ Horcruxes, thus killing him."

"Wow, the witch who wants revenge on Penna for splitting her family apart changed time by having Penna stay with her mom?" Feige said. "What a twist!"

"Well," Artemis clasped his hands. "Now that we have the part of the past solved, we can worry about the part of the three mistakes. How about we give you a tour of the gardens while we have Pinkamenus fetched?"

 _Later, in the Royal Gardens_

For a break from time traveling, it was a good one. After having a guard fetch Pinkamenus, the crazy pink Equestrian maniac, Radiance and Artemis led the group to the gardens to finish the tea and cakes. The royal gardens from the Lunar Dynasty were quite fabulous, with their doses of pink magnolia trees, sapphire willows, cherry trees, vast flowers, koi ponds with the waters reflecting the starry night, and the famous Dreamworld Tree growing at the center. Radiance took the girls into a game of croquet while Dårlig drowned himself in tea and Artemis and Marius went for a walk through the gardens.

"So, you and Lonnie, huh?" Marius smirked at Artemis.

"Yes," Artemis smiled. "Granted, this timeline has its perks, but it can't last. It's for the best that time resets. And I should know; my mother may be Nightmare Moon, but my father is Time."

"What happened to your parents?" Marius asked as they stopped by a balcony decorated with blue ancient Roman columns. Blue vines grew on the columns in crescent patterns.

"My mother retired to the moon now that I have taken my place on the throne." Artemis sat down on a bench. "As for Time, well, still in the royal clocktower."

"And how did you manage to court Lonnie? Come to think of it, what exactly happened to China in this timeline? In the Fiske Empire, the Huns took over and Lonnie had to grow up, hiding with the Resistance while her mother was given to Shan-Yu as a combine war prize."

"Let's just say that when the Huns invaded, the emperor called on me to wipe them out. Granted, Mulan still did the avalanche thing, but I did chop off Shan Yu's hands, which made him unable to fight and he surrendered."

Marius tried to imagine Artemis fighting Shan Yu with his scepter and then chopping off the hands anime-style. The Lunar Dynasty king continued. "The emperor wanted to reward me; all I asked was for Mulan to get the heroic recognition she needed. I kept traveling to China during the later years and I met Lonnie. I did have to wait until she was a teenager to properly court her, and after the emperor asked me to rid China of a plague and I succeeded, he wanted to reward me with one of his daughters' hand in marriage..."

"Let me guess," Marius said. "You told him that you'd rather marry the daughter of China's hero and he gave you what you wanted." Then again, it wasn't a surprise for Marius. From what he was told, China did rely on matchmakers and arranged marriages in their society.

"We married under a lunar eclipse." Artemis sighed. "It was beautiful."

"How long ago was that?" Marius asked.

"Back in January."

 _Precisely around the time they started dating in real life_ , Marius thought. "And the baby? Knowing you, you already know what to expect."

"Yes, but I promised Lonnie I wouldn't tell her. She wants to be surprised," Artemis sighed. "I don't know how she'll react when she learns that we're expecting a boy."

"What's wrong with sons? You and I were both sons of fierce ladies of war," Marius pointed out. "What difference would it make if Mulan's daughter has a baby boy?"

"Hello!" Artemis whistled. "Have you met the Chinese society's expectations? Do you not know the lyrics? 'A man by bearing arms, a girl by bearing sons?" Artemis said those lines in a singsong tune. "Lonnie comes from a society where they prefer sons over daughters and the females get the 'stay in the kitchen and raise children' treatment. Oh, let's not forget how they kill women for posing as men in the army!" He sighed. "I fear that if Lonnie learns we're having a boy, she'll thinks it's China all over again."

"OK, you're being dramatic for nothing." Marius sat down next to him. "First of all, this is not China. This is the Lunar Dynasty and Lonnie's the Queen Consort. You evidently treat Lonnie like an equal, and if you know her, you'll know that she'll love your child regardless of what gender it is. And if it's a boy, I'm sure that she'll raise him to understand that all men and women are equal and none of them are frail, weak, or dominated by stereotypes."

Artemis smirked in gratitude. "I can see that you'll become a benevolent king once time is fixed."

"Is that a compliment or a prediction?" Marius frowned.

"Cousin, Pinkamenus is here!" Radiance's voice shouted over the greenery.

"Saved by the bell!" Artemis ran out of sight.

"Hey, come back here!" Marius flew after him. They made it by the roots of the tree, where the others were waiting for them. The once hyperactive Pinkamenus was cleaner than usual, with his hair tied in a ponytail and dressed in an ironed uniform. He was sitting in a Lotus position, watching the koi fish swim in the pond.

"Pinkamenus," Artemis said, "can you recite the three ingredients needed to make a perfect good pie?"

"WHAT?" The time traveling group exclaimed.

"For some reason, he can only speak in riddles," Radiance explained. "Artemis is asking him in riddles 'Can you tell the three mistakes that can reset time?'"

"OOOOOOOH!"

"To make the good pie, you need the message of a fallen one written under the shadow of a raven falling into a white horizon while connections are remade," Pinkamenus said calmly. He then dropped on the grass and proceeded to snore.

"WHAT?" Marius exclaimed. "C'mon, he naps everytime he finishes riddling?"

"Don't worry, I wrote it down on my scrapbook." Gladiola revealed the page where she had taken notes. "The message of a fallen one. The shadow of a raven falling into a white horizon. Connections are remade." She pondered and smiled as she said: "We need to get a letter from a dead person, send someone into the limbo realm, and use true love's kiss to seal everything!"

"Bingo!" Artemis and Radiance winked together.

"I hate riddles," Marius grumbled.

"How did you manage to find out?" Feige asked Gladiola.

"I played riddles a lot when I was a kid with the other Trolls," Gladiola explained. "Honestly, when you think about it thoroughly, the translations aren't that hard to comprehend. In other words, we must find a letter that was supposed to be sent by a dying person, then we send somebody into the limbo realm, and have a couple reunite through true love's kiss." She smirked. "Classic. True love's kiss solves everything."

"Question," Dårlig said. "There's about millions of dead people inexistence and who the hell would the universe want us to throw in limbo or reunite a couple?"

"Excellent question, we'll think about it when we go to the past." Marius pulled out the Saturnium he had. "OK, so if Penna's 16th birthday was on June 6th, 1916, then her birth date was June 6th, 1900."

"Go two days ahead, on June 4th," Artemis advised. "That way, you can make sure that the Simian Witch doesn't mess the birth event."

"It was already messed before she changed it," Marius shrugged. He turned the keys and a portal opened. He shook hands with Artemis. "Thanks. For everything."

"Of course," Artemis said. "Remember, the fate of time and space relies on you."

"That's a first one. Oh, and Artemis? I think you really ought to tell your Lonnie that you're having a boy. You know, before the Lunar Dynasty disappears."

Artemis nodded. Marius and his friends jumped into the portal right before it closed. The time traveling effect that changed the Fiske Empire into the Hogwarts campus of the past repeated itself, only now it was the Lunar Dynasty turning into the familiar castle of Voldemort. It looked very much the same way it did back in 1916, only it was raining in 1900. Typical English weather.

"OK," Marius said while Gladiola and Feige used their hair to create large umbrellas. "Who here knows how to tell the Dark Lord that we need to protect his infant from a witch who wants to save its mom and encourage that mother and child flee?"

" **Seriously**?" Feige, Gladiola, and Dårlig were the only ones who shivered when turning to see that Voldemort had appeared out of nowhere. " **The hybrid and his time-traveling comrades.** "

"You still remember us? Even though now we traveled sixteen years before our last encounter?" Marius frowned.

" **I have a very awfully good memory** ," Voldemort scowled back. " **I thought we defeated the witch by ensuring my child became evil.** "

"Well, it worked on the part of the child turning evil. Problem is, right when we had the witch subdued, she spit her Saturnium out of her mouth and used it to go to the past _again_. We tracked her to this time. In two days, she'll pose as one of your Death Eaters to help your mistress with the labor, give the demon a cure to the poison you put on her, and convince the demon to run away with the child, distracting you to pursue them while your enemies succeed in destroying your Horcruxes."

Voldemort paled up at the mention of his Horcruxes getting destroyed. Without any hesitation, he brought them inside to his dining room and summoned his Death Eaters. His followers hissed in disdain at the presence of the 'guests' until Voldemort warned them to watch their manners or be fed to Nagini. They agreed to put aside their racism for later as Voldemort explained to them that an enemy was threatening the birth of his only child.

" **Bellatrix, you lead a group. I want a doubled-security troupe of Death Eaters circling the perimeters of the castle," Voldemort barked his orders at them. "Fenrir, you get a werewolf pack on duty and have them sniff any possible intruder's scent. Wormtail, go underground and have the basilisks secure the sewage line. Barty, get as many Death Eaters as you can to watch from above."**

"Yes, my lord!" The Death Eaters all swore before turning into black smokes that flew into separate ways.

Voldemort turned to Dårlig and Feige. " **You too can inspect the kitchens and chambers.** "

"We're already gone." Dårlig and Feige made a run for it.

" **You're a Troll. Do you make maps in your scrapbooks?"** Voldemort asked Gladiola. To answer her question, she pulled out a scrapbook and opened it to a page revealing a pop-up depiction of Voldemort's estate.

"When did you have the time to make a scrapbook of this?" Marius exclaimed.

"Last time we came," Gladiola shrugged. "You'd be shocked by the amounts of chambers, bathrooms, cellars, torture rooms, attics, catacombs, gardens, and living rooms this castle has. I was even able to scrapbook the 50 different secret passages they have."

" **Excellent** ," Voldemort said in a tone that hinted he had mixed feelings about a stranger able to map out his home in a 'childish manner'. " **You and I will go on inventory to check the secret passages.** "

"And what should I do?" Marius asked.

Voldemort arched an exasperated frown at him. " **Given how you are so desperate to protect my child, you're getting a special task. You get to be the bodyguard and midwife of Svjetla.** "


	47. Svjetla

Chapter 47: Svjetla

In the Fae Realm kingdom (from Marius' timeline), it was forbidden to keep any artistic depictions of deceased nature demons or other spirits that weren't fae. It was believed that depicting them in anyway was an insult, because the death of a spirit that brought much to nature is tragic. When Marius and Daylight were younger, their parents had taken them to what was called the Spiritual Plains. The Plains were originally plain, but they could sense whenever a spirit or nature spirit died and have rocks grow out of earth and fairy rings made out of the deceased ones' favorite plant would grow around the rocks. The royal family came every season at the Spiritual Plains to bring their respects to that graveyard through offerings. It was at one point during those offerings that Marius saw the Sugar Plum Fairy mourning a rock with a fairy ring of primroses. " _The grave of the one who gave me the primroses for my love potion_ ," the fairy had cried.

Marius felt like the grave boulder was in his stomach when Voldemort lead him up the stairs leading to the dungeons of his castle. The further they walked up, the more the place looked like it was turning from venom green to pure silver. When they reached the top, it looked like they stepped into a prison made of nothing but metal.

 _Naturally_ , the prince thought. _The dungeons must be made of silver. The perfect religious metal to neutralize magical beings._ His thoughts were confirmed when Voldemort stopped in front of a silver door. The lock was shaped like a star made out of crucifixes crushed by serpents. Voldemort said something in Parseltongue, causing the crucifix star to spin and the silver snakes to hiss. The door unlocked. Marius could already smell the foul-stench of despair.

" **Stay there** ," Voldemort said. " **The door will reopen only when food is brought. Do try to convince her to eat. After all, we can't have her commit suicide through starvation. At least, not before the birth.** "

 _Love your priorities,_ Marius thought drily. "And what should I do in case she goes through labor? Scream and hope someone brings a basin full of water?"

Voldemort said nothing. He merely shoved Marius into the cell and locked the door behind him. Marius rolled his eyes in exasperation and got up to inspect the 'cell'. It was purely made of metal, as if it were an asylum cell, but it had added features to add some comfortable settings: a carpet, a fountain with fresh water pouring out of the wall, a bed, window curtains, and a table bearing a towel and a tray full of food. But after seeing that the food has been rotting for several days, the curtains had been mauled, and scratches were added to the metal, it felt like the prisoner went savage.

Crying caught Marius' attention. He looked back at the bed and saw a woman crying. Her teal hair was the first thing to catch his attention. It was identical to the streaks Penna had in her hair. "Lady Svjetla?" He asked.

Svjetla sniffed, rubbed her eyes, and dragged her upper body up. She opened her eyes and widened them at the sight of Marius. The latter noticed that coincidentally, Svjetla had the same eye color as Voldemort and Penna, but she had that hawk-like blue eye shadow that her daughter had inherited.

" _Bog Prince Egeus? What are you doing here? And why do you... look partially fae_?"

Marius frowned. Then he realized that Svjetla was mistaking him for his paternal great-grandfather, the Bog King Egeus. It was quite an understandable mistake. Most of the royal bloods of his goblin ancestry had the habit of looking like one another. Grannyselda compared his father the Bog King Lysander to his grandfather the Bog King Theseus while many compared Marius to Lysander.

"I'm actually the great-grandson of Bog King Egeus," Marius bowed to the demon. "I am Marius Bogfae, the Prince of the Fae Realm in the distant future."

Svjetla blinked at him. " _So... fairies and goblins will finally unite in the future_." She tried to get up from her bed, but a wail escaped her lips and she clutched her stomach. Marius grabbed her and helped her lay down on the bed. He grabbed the towel, dipped it in the fountain, and squeezed it so that it was humid enough for him to tap the face of Svjetla with it. While his right hand tapped on Svjetla's face, his left hand accidentally rested on the stomach. His eyes widened and he froze. For a moment, it seemed like he was seeing the inside: the fetus was fully developed and eager to be born, but at the same time it begged to not leave its mother. For a moment, Marius felt like he could see a barrier of black thorns making its way to the mother's lung and the fetus let out a silent cry.

Marius dropped the towel and on his knees. Svjetla lifted her head up to see him cry on her bed sheets and speak to her unborn child.

"I'm so sorry, Penna..." He cried. "I ruined everything." Tears flooded out of his eyes and stained the silver floor. "I don't even know if I can stop the Simian Witch... I just wanted you to be happy and loved." Marius proceeded to cry hysterically. He felt like giving up.

He felt something hold up his chin and lift it up. Svjetla was using the towel to wipe his tears away. " _You know, only fairies cry hysterically. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if you happen to be a goblin-fairy hybrid_."

Marius sniffed as he let her dry her tears.

" _You poor dear. I don't need to ask what you went through, but I can tell you dearly love my child._ "

"M...more than anything," he took several breaths. "I'm sorry, Lady Svjetla. If there had been any other way, I wouldn't tell you that you must let Voldemort's poison kill you after you give birth do your daughter. But I can't..."

" _You hear that, darling_?" Svjetla said lovingly while caressing her stomach. " _Mommy loves you, and so will Marius._ " Marius wiped his eyes and finally stopped crying. He just sat there, saying nothing while his bloodshot eyes kept staring at the home of the fetus.

 _Two hours later, outside_

Voldemort and Gladiola came out of the 30th passage, this one leading to the grove of trees just outside of the castle's garden limits. Gladiola added another X to her scrapbook. So far, there was no sign of the Simian witch using the secret passages towards the castle.

They ran into Fenrir and his pack. The werewolves were hopelessly trying to sniff out the area they were in, but to no avail. The grove was full of aromas and the ground entirely covered of dead leaves. That is, until Gladiola noticed some details while Fenrir admitted his failure at finding any intruders to his master. Gladiola noticed that the trees above them had a series of broken and leaf-less branches, as if they got cracked while somebody hung up on or shook them. She also noticed that the werewolves were agitating their nostrils, as if the many scents were too much for them. They also did not keep their eyes on the ground.

Gladiola put down her scrapbook and knelt down to brush away a pile of leaves. Still dry on the earth, the footprint of a high-heeled shoe was now revealed. She got up and used her hair to wipe the ground. In less than three minutes, she cleared the area they were in to reveal that a numerous amount of footprints identical to the first one had been hiding under the leaves.

"Clever reasoning, Troll," Fenrir complimented.

"Tell me, do you smell anything on these footprints?" Gladiola asked.

Fenrir proceeded to start sniffing. His canine comrades copied him.

"I smell acacia!" One said.

"Too many roses!" Another said.

"Ugh! Peonies!"

Many members of the pack complained about strong floral aromas until Fenrir ran around the area and stopped before everyone. "I smell blue chrysanthemums everywhere!"

"Just as I thought," Gladiola said.

" **And what did you think**?" Voldemort questioned.

"It was raining earlier, but now it doesn't and I notice that the mud on your land dries very quickly," Gladiola said. "The blue chrysanthemum odor that Fenrir caught is the perfume of the Simian Witch..."

"Very ghastly," Fenrir shuddered.

"And those are her footprints," Gladiola pointed at the footprints. "My best guess is that she arrived in your land sometime when it rained, and since she guessed that you'd have your Death Eater security out, she walked around the muddy area and spread a bunch of strong floral perfumes to hide her own since werewolves are highly sensitive to odors that aren't fleshed. Then, when the earth dried, she jumped on the trees and shook the branches so that the leaves would fall and hide her trail. And since werewolves usually smell on the ground, she went on to move towards your castle by the trees."

Fenrir jumped on the trees in question and took a sniff. His inhaling got deep and he ran towards the castle, the other werewolves following him. They stopped when they reached the gardens.

"The Troll was right," Fenrir said. "I can smell the odor of the witch, but it's going in circles. It looks like she's trying to figure a way in."

" **Then catch her**!" Voldemort snapped. The werewolves nodded and ran off.

A branch snap caused Gladiola to turn her head. She could have sworn that she saw the end of a blue cape making its way behind a hedge. Gladiola rushed towards the hedge, but she found nobody behind it.

" **Did you spot the witch?** " Voldemort asked.

"No. But I saw something that reminded of someone. I hope I'm wrong." Gladiola looked down and saw Impius scurrying out of the hedge. "Seriously?" She picked him up. "You always mysteriously disappear."

" **How did you manage to procure yourself an imp**?" Voldemort asked.

"He's not mine. He belongs to the goblin-fairy hybrid. Impius is his best."

" **Really?** " Voldemort looked curiously at Impius. " **I've never encountered a domesticated imp. Usually the ones I meet are wild and human-like. Did you know they are immune to time travel.** "

"I know," Gladiola said grimly. "Ever since our time travel odyssey began, Impius comes and goes just like that. And don't get me started with Amanda."

" **Who?** "

"She's Rumplestiltskin's daughter in the future."

" **Rumplestiltskin's child? Are you mad?** " Voldemort exclaimed. " **Don't you brats from the future know that imps can never be trusted, especially when said imps in question are related to Rumplestiltskin? They could care less if whomever they provide assistance to is good or evil! They just LOVE spreading chaos!** "

"What?" Gladiola frowned. "That doesn't make sense! Amanda gave us tips whenever we ended up in a new alternate reality. She's the one who told us that we had to fix three mistakes to reset time!"

" **She may have helped you, but did it ever occur to you that she might as well have helped the witch you are hunting? How could the witch have known where and how to specifically alter the past times she visited? How did she know that Bellatrix's son would intercept the letter? How could she infiltrate my castle as one of my Death Eaters? It's not like there's a book that explains how to do these things... unless said book was an imp!** "

Impius chirped and pointed at the sky. Gladiola looked up; a scowl appeared on her face when she noticed a green crow flying away.

"Well, this imp just confirmed to me who I saw."

 _Somewhere around morning_

Feige came to the dungeon to replace the tray of rotten food with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup. Marius didn't have to ask her how she knew Parseltongue. He guessed that evil Penna ranted a lot in Parseltongue.

"Please eat," he presented the bowl to Svjetla. The demon sighed. She still wished she could just die on the spot from starvation, but she had another mouth to feed. Svjetla gave in and took small dips from the bowl. A small smile came to her lips; she clearly enjoyed Dårlig's soup.

" _This will most likely be the last delicious meal I eat_ ," she said.

"Hopefully you'll have more before the birth tomorrow," Marius said. More silence came as Svjetla continued eating.

" _I was a fool_ ," she said quietly. " _I don't know what made me think that I could get away through a pact with a mortal. Riddle spoke to me from the mortal realm, telling me that he wanted a child. I thought I saw a common goal between us._ "

"How could a cruel sorcerer like Voldemort and a nature demon from the Fae Realm share things in common?" Marius questioned.

" _I can only bare one child in a lifetime. It's the way a nature demon must reproduce. And since my ancestors and parents have passed away... I was lonely and desperate for a family. I believed that if I could have Riddle promise to be mine if I gave him a child..._ "

"Stop." Marius pinched his nose in frustration. "You got to be kidding me!"

" _Well, I did not exactly predict that Voldemort crossed his fingers when we made the pact. Then again, I never remembered asking him to keep his word on the River Styx. I assumed he was a man of his word_..."

"I don't mean the pact!" Marius cut her. "I mean, do every single magically-gifted mothers treat their kids like _merchandise_? You know, I'm starting to think that you and psycho-Riddle are just like the Fiskes. You claim you love your children, but in the end you use them for own gain. OK, your reasons are not as vicious as the ones of the Simian Witch and Monkey Fist actually loves her unlike Voldemort to you, but still!"

Svjetla lowered her head. " _You're right,_ " she said. " _I can do nothing but mistakes._ "

"Ugh! You sound like Penna when she chickens out because she's afraid her evil side will ruin everything." Marius walked up to the window and sighed. "Why can't anyone understand that you can't extinguish good or evil?"

" _Because only you can_." Marius turned to look at Svjetla while the latter was caressing her stomach. " _Like you told me, you are the son of a Fairy Queen and a former evil Bog King. Unlike the children born from those who are strictly of one side, you come from both. They see black and white while you see grey. In the end, the only one who really fulfills a solution... is you._ "

Marius said nothing. The day kept going on and he did not notice that the Simian Witch had spied on their conversation, but instead of breaking in to the castle, she flew off undetected by the Death Eaters.

 _Later in the evening (yes, time flies quickly)_

The Death Eaters were still on patrol. Feige came back downstairs after bringing up yet another dish for the expecting mother and an empty one for Dårlig to clean. Since Voldemort was expecting the birth to happen anytime soon, he waited with them in the kitchen. The teens were now used to dealing with a De Mort near them, so once Dårlig was done cleaning the dishes, they settled down for a game of cards.

"So you spotted Corbeau?" Dårlig asked as he shuffled the cards and handed them out. He scowled at Impius, who was napping in a cooking pot he just cleaned.

"I don't know another antihero from St Luther that can change into green animals and drags a blue cape on him." Gladiola took her cards.

"Even if you did see Corbeau, how can you explain why he was here?" Feige pointed out as they began their game of goldfish.

" **Perhaps he is the accomplice of your witch enemy?** " Voldemort suggested.

"Nah, he defected and betrayed our school to help _you_ ," Gladiola said. "But come to think of it... No, that can't be..."

"What?" Dårlig asked. He picked three cards after failing to get his six.

"I highly doubt that Corbeau would allege himself with this guy." Gladiola pointed at a scowling Voldemort. "Plus, when the Voldemort first came to St Luther as the fake Principal Melchior, he had us take shots to remove our tracking chips. I saw Corbeau lift up his sleeves and I did not see the Death Mark."

"You know, Bayen and the other Death Eaters kids did have their marks," Feige agreed. "But I think you might have a point Gladiola. For all we know, Corbeau might be self-serving."

" **I imagine that poses a double-problem** ," Voldemort said. " **Question remains, what does he want?** "

"Ruby," the teens said in unison.

" **Who?** "

"The girlfriend of the son of the witch who's changing time," Gladiola won the round and shuffled the cards. "It does fit. With the obsession he has of 'rehabilitating her for himself' and the coincidence that in every alternate reality, Ruby and Martin aren't together..."

"Corbeau sees an opportunity to get a hold of her!" Dårlig got up. "We have to tell Marius!"

A shrilling scream came from somewhere in the castle.

" **Looks like Svjetla is going into labor** ," Voldemort said with a smirk. " **Finally!"**

"But the birth is supposed to be tomorrow!" Feige looked at the clock that rested above the kitchen's chimney. "It's midnight already? Man, time does fly?"

 _Back upstairs_

"C'mon, push!" Marius told Svjetla. The actual labor was causing Svjetla to agitate more than ever, making Marius still feel guilty about strapping her to the bed so that she could stay still.

" _I'm trying!_ " Svjetla exclaimed. " _But the poison is close to hitting my heart! Once my baby's out, I'll die!_ "

"Then die giving all the love you have for your daughter on her first day! Now push!" Marius said firmly. Births were not so sensitive to him. He was used to helping mothers bringing out their babies during his community service hours. "OK, I see the top of her head coming out!"

" _Hurry! I want to see her one last time!_ " Svjetla's breathing was getting more rapid. She was desperate to still have air in her lungs before the poison could take her life. Marius bit his lips and sank his hands in. Svjetla screamed as Marius forcefully pulled the infant out of the demon. He now held a small bundle covered in water and blood and screaming.

He felt his arms shaking as he placed the baby on top of Svjetla's chest. The latter cried as she touched her child's little bed. " _My little Penelope... Oh, I'm sorry I won't be there for you. But never forget how much I love you..._ " Svjetla sighed and closed her eyes. Marius looked tearfully as Svjetla's last breath of life escaped her lips.

The poison had hit her heart.

Marius took the infant in his arms and used the stem of the soupspoon to cut off the cord. Once the link was severed, Svjetla turned into a pile of lavender dust that made its way out of the window. It then disappeared into the sky like a fading primrose-shaped cloud.

Marius stopped crying and cleaned the baby before then wrapping her with one of the bed sheets. He looked at the small thing that would become his beloved in 116 years from now. She really looked like a fragile human baby, desperately cuddling for warmth and protection. The small eyelids opened up to reveal the bluish eyes. To think that these innocent blue eyes would spend a century as icy ones.

Marius walked silently down to the main floor of the castle. Everyone was waiting to see the baby. Voldemort stood on the lead.

"Here is Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle," Marius said. He gently placed the baby onto Voldemort's arm. The latter looked firmly at his child. "You'd better take care of her," Marius said coldly before flying off through the open door. Dårlig, Feige, and Gladiola ran after him until they found him in the heart of the woods. Coincidentally, he found what he was looking for.

The Simian Witch.

She was throwing pebbles into a pond, for some reason.

"Look who came looking for trouble," she said drily. She looked at the teenagers who stood up at ten feet away from her. "Let me guess, you'll break into song about the power of friendship and love?"

"You know nothing about those words," Marius said icily. "Your friends, your family... They're just pawns to you."

The Simian Witch scowled. Her cheeks were burning, but she was trying her hardest to keep her temper down.

"You bullied the most powerful sorcerers into being your followers, you left your family alone for seventeen years, you let Voldemort use your son, and you think changing the past is the best excuse for everything you did," Marius continued. At the fear of his friends, he walked towards the Simian Witch.

"What kind of fool are you, silly prince?" The Simian Witch got up. "Everything I did was for my family?"

"Because changing reality to live an alternate life is better than the real? You'd rather live in a delirious illusion rooted from your own black heart with a family that isn't real while the original one is at peril of dying through all of existence crashing." Marius raised his hands in defeat. "You know what, I give up."

"WHAT?" His friends exclaimed.

"No, really. If this witch wants to change time, then fine! We'll all die anyway." Marius found a log to relax his head on while he laid himself on the grass, not caring how pissed the witch looked. "I'm just going to stay here and die in the early 20th century while the Simian Witch has fun messing with the laws of nature. Then we'll all die, the universe will have to restart from scratch, and to top it all, the Simian Witch... will never... see her family... EVER AGAIN!"

Marius moved out of the way to dodge the blast of magic that the Simian Witch threw at him. All it did was turn the log into a bonfire.

"You're really irritating me!" She snapped. "Thinking that defeating me was possible is anything **but** possible!"

"Great speech coming from a coward," Marius whistled in boredom.

"COWARD?" the Simian Witch exclaimed.

"Is Marius trying to kill himself?" Gladiola whispered to Feige.

"No, he's clearly using psychology to hit her in the berserk button that the Fiskes all have. Their prideful ego."

"If you weren't a coward, you'd have told your son the truth the whole time and you'd have made the effort to be a part of his actual life," Marius kept ranting. "If you weren't a coward, you'd actually fight me. With your hands and without magic or your time traveling trinkets!"

"And you without flying!" The Simian Witch pulled the Saturnium out of her pocket and threw it aside. The Trolls and Bergen gasped as Marius did the same thing by throwing away his. Both copies of the Saturnium landed softly on the grass. The Simian Witch put magic neutralizing bracelets on her wrists identical to the one Penna wore and Marius pulled a chain out of his tunic.

"They're mad!" Dårlig exclaimed as Marius folded his wings and wrapped the chain over them and around his waist. "He's actually not gonna fly and she won't use her magic! It's an actual hand-to-hand combat!"

Feige poked his shoulder and discreetly pointed at the stranded copies of the Saturnium. Dårlig gasped and whispered. "Oh. The whole fight was to get her to get rid of the Saturnium. Oh, he's good."

"Hope you know what it will be like for you to die at the hands of a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar!" The Simian Witch hissed.

"I've met a bunch of people who claim to be the master of anything," Marius shrugged as he prepared his fighting pose. "You're nothing new, _Silvia_."

They charged.


	48. Clashing Senses

Chapter 48: Clashing Senses

Marius was the first to grab the Simian Witch's fists and swing her towards the pond. She got up and dashed at him. The witch tried to kick and punch him with all her might, but Marius looked unfazed. He succeeded in dodging her and hitting her at weakening points before sending her to fly into a tree.

Dårlig and Feige discreetly whistled as each made a step towards the closest Saturnium to them.

The Simian Witch and Marius both ripped off thick branches and began using them as bo staffs. She tried to impale him with her staff, but he managed to block her. He kicked her in the face, sending her a few feet back.

"Some manners they teach to royal brats!" She spat.

"Nah, I just don't discriminate when it comes to fighting. Any competitor is _fair game!_ " Marius swung his staff at her, but she jumped in the air and plummeted towards the earth, creating a small crater that would have broken Marius bones had he not jumped out of the way.

Dårlig and Feige both picked up a Saturnium and scurried off without being noticed. The Simian Witch jumped in to crush Marius, but he got the upper hand by lifting up only two fingers and scratching where it hurt.

Her scars.

The sorceress screamed and hit Marius with a blast of magic that hit him the stomach. He fell on the ground, hugging his pained ribs while she screamed to cover the bleeding areas of her face. Gladiola rushed to check on Marius.

"His ribs are slightly injured," Gladiola said as she pulled out a bandage and wrapped it over Marius' wounds. Taking the opportunity of the witch being weakened, Feige manipulated her hair and had her locks wrap around the Simian Witch. The Simian Witch groaned from the constricting locks and the bleeding she was going through.

"That was an incredibly fast duel," Dårlig said as he unlocked the chains off Marius' wings.

"I didn't have to," Marius looked at the Simian Witch fighting against the hair with no luck. "Her ego and sense of judgment blinded her of her own unstable condition. By dodging her, I got her to wear out, and the closer she got to me, I just had to hit her where it hurts most." He looked around and found the thickest tree trunk he could spot. With Dårlig's help, they used the chains to strap the Simian Witch onto the trunk once Feige hammered her to it.

"Behave and I'll heal you," Marius chided the sorceress. She was too busy turning her head, gagging, her eyes out of space... Marius wasn't sure what happened.

"You're sure you don't have magical powers, Marius?" Dårlig asked cautiously. "Because with what you just did, hitting her right in the scars, she's going to be in a flashback trance for at least a couple hours."

"Than we camp here," Marius sighed.

 _Much later_

The night fell in the sky. The teenagers were cuddled around a fire, either eating the meat stew that Dårlig cooked after hunting down a deer or searching for clues on how to get back to the main time stream. When he noticed that the Simian Witch had been partially awake and looking rather... shocked, Marius got up and walked up to her with a bowl full of stew. Without waiting for permission, which he assumed he wouldn't receive, he slightly pushed up the Simian Witch's chin and gently forced the stew to slip into her mouth. The sounds the sorceress' throat was making from voluntarily eating weren't satisfying enough.

"You really confuse me, hybrid," she said bitterly.

"Then we're even." Since the bowl was just a rock with a good, hollow hole, Marius threw it and managed to have it land in the pond.

"How's it possible that someone... pathetically unable to perform magic... can force me to have a look into my past?" She muttered.

"How's it possible that despite our obvious differences, we compare in our flaws?" Marius asked in the same tone. "I don't have magic, and you don't have a family to actually be with. You love your husband and son but fail to be there for them, and I love the most dangerous descendant of all times, but I put her in more danger than anyone else. How ironic are our lives?" He looked up at the night sky. The stars shined so brightly in outer space, Marius could have almost detected all the constellations if it weren't for the reality cracks getting wider in the sky. "We messed up big time. Now we'll never see the ones we love ever again."

The Simian Witch blinked. Marius wasn't sure if she was crying until he saw that she was just trying to deal with the healing pain of her scars. "What memory did you go through?" He asked.

"How can you not know? You made me see it again!"

"You think I'm some memory expert like Artemis Nightmare?" Marius looked down at his hands, plain as they always were. "Then again, considering the first and last time I did it, it was a pure accident. I ended up seeing one of Penna's memories by touching one of her Kraken Needles... and yet that never happened when I previously pulled some."

The witch stopped blinking. "How on Earth did you manage to do such an idiotically unsafe thing? I've met witches and wizards who've failed to extract those artifacts from the flesh. Even mere mortals have gotten lethal secondary effects from trying!"

"The flesh softened and I managed to pull some from her back while I kissed her... but the rest were harder to pull because the memory behind each of them was too intense. When I accidentally saw one of her memories, she was crying because Voldemort forced her to kill a girl named Emily Rosefinks..."

"The Slytherin Muggle-born? I know who you speak of." Marius glared at Silvia, who rolled her eyes. "I spent years studying her past. How she was born, how she became evil, how she had to serve her father, how she was secretly Dumbledore's protégée, how she shaped history to where we are now."

"All this time researching on your worst enemy... and you couldn't use it to see how your son grew without knowing that his mother chose revenger over him?"

The Simian Witch tried to speak up, but Marius was faster than her. "Let me ask you. Your plan to change reality just to have your family... is it really how you think it will work or because being raised evil taught you that?"

She paused and bit her lips several time, unable to find an answer. But Marius already had it. The Simian Witch _did_ love her family, but being raised among evil sorcerers and spending most of her life with some, the idea of such atrocities being used for 'the right thing' had mixed up her definition of morality.

"Look," Marius turned to face Silvia. "Martin might not have all the years of his childhood that he can give to you, but nothing can keep you from trying explain your mistakes to him and see how you can be more involved in his life. I mean, he has a lot of friends, he wants to study in archaeology, and he really loves Ruby. Wouldn't him being happy mean more than a life without the real thing?"

She said nothing. But after four minutes of silence, she pulled her arms forward. Her chains glowed red and finally cracked from the magical heat. Marius watched without even raising an eyebrow as she rubbed her wrists.

"Once we have fixed everything, we will never speak again of what just happened," she said sternly.

 _Much later_

The message of a fallen one = a letter from a dead person.

The shadow of a raven falling into a white horizon = send someone into the limbo realm.

Connections are remade = true love's kiss to seal everything.

"I won't lie, guys. I stink at this," Gladiola said as she shut her scrapbook closed.

"What? You got most of it right," Marius said. "'The shadow of a raven' actually refers to Corbeau. Though assuming that the universe wants him in the limbo, I guess he's worst than most people think he is."

"His mother _is_ the daughter of Trigon and his father is an animal shapeshifter," the Simian Witch arched an eyebrow. "Why did I think I could pull the strings on him by having Auradon think he served Voldemort when Voldemort had no idea Corbeau was serving me?"

"Were you going to backstab him?" Feige asked.

"Naturally!" The witch snorted. "Unlike my son, that green-haired freak does not deserve Ruby Kyle!"

"Can we focus?" Gladiola asked. "Sure, we got the second line covered, but what of the first and last one? I don't know what dead guy would give a message and for who? And who needs to get true love's kiss?"

"Maybe Ruby and Martin need to get their first true love's kiss?" Dårlig suggested.

Meanwhile, Impius doodled with his tail on the earth's soil. Marius sighed in exasperation: "Impius, we mean a dead man. Not somebody who fell... Oh, you mean somebody who fell to his death? That's so clichéd!"

"But surprisingly, the imp came with the right conclusion." The Simian Witch grabbed the nearest Saturnium and began turning its keys. "Of all the dead people out there who had involvements with De Mort, there's only one man who should be crazily prepared into having a message in case he dies."

"Who?" Marius asked.

"You'll see." The sorceress turned the last key and the vortex opened up. "Get ready to go back to the end of the 1920s."

 _After the vortex travel_

They landed in a foggy night, making it unable to tell which park they had arrived in. A loud, distant bell alerted that it was one in the morning.

"Are we in London?" Feige asked. The Simian Witch said nothing and merely ushered them to hide in a bush. They waited until something peculiar happened. All the lampposts in the area began to lose their lights, as if the lights had shrunk and run off to join a certain point hidden in the fog. A figure walked out of the fog, and they soon saw that a man was holding a small stick, dragging the lights in to trap them. Once the street was fully dark, he flipped the cap over the stick.

"A Deluminator," Dårlig said. "Penna used to have one."

The man walked into the park, in a rather strange, calm attitude, as if taking a stroll in a foggy night after sucking out the lights was a normal thing. His trimmed beard moved into a smile as he stared at a stone bench held up by stone demons. "Always a few minutes early," he commented. "In discretion, you still need revisions, Penelope."

Something glowed above the bench. Like ink dissolving in water, shadows formed a body and solidified. A young lady stood, dressed in a knee-length coat of black coloring with a pattern of glittering wing membranes, matching boots and tights. Under the black cloche hat with a teal band shaped like a snake swallowing itself, her black hair with teal dyes was tied in a perfect bun held by a fang-themed hairclip.

"Even using a spell bearing the capacities of an invisibility cloak is nothing to keep me off your radar, Professor Dumbledore," past Penna De Mort told the man. Feige and Dårlig covered their mouths to avoid releasing shocked gasps while the others stayed put.

Past Penna made room for Dumbledore to sit next to her on the bench. The man smiled kindly as he did so and pulled out his wand, tipping it on Penna's neck. Marius almost jumped out of his spot, but Gladiola kept him hidden.

"Why hide your injury from me?" Dumbledore asked as he tapped on the thick choker necklace Penna wore. She sighed and took it off, revealing a healing cut that went around her neck. "What was Tom's lesson?"

"Decapitating a Squib. He thought that my method was too rapid, so he taught me a slower method," she said. Dumbledore poked his wand further, but this time a white glow trailed her cut, healing it until the cut vanished, giving Penna her perfect lavender neck. She put her choker back on.

"That should do the trick." Dumbledore put his wand away. "I must admit, I'm amazed that you managed to sneak away from Tom's domain. Your potion worked better than I imagined."

Penna blinked. "You knew?"

"That you created your own potion combining the energy of a Petrificus Totalus and a mirror hit by a basilisk's stare?" Dumbledore smiled. "You still doubt that you were my best pupil yet, Penelope."

"But my paternal is the Dark Lord." Penna looked confused. "He succeeded in turning me evil. Have you not seen what I am now?" She lifted her head so anyone could see her face. She still had the same features as Penna De Mort had in the original timeline, but she looked incredibly worn out and tired.

Dumbledore looked unfazed and straightened himself on the bench. "You used to be in my Defense Against The Dark Arts class. Do you remember your boggart?"

"Yes, it turned into my father. Seeing it turn into the thing that scares me most... I was unable to perform the counter spell. Why?"

"Because when you faced your boggart, I did not see a girl fearing her father," Dumbledore said. "I saw a girl who feared becoming just like her father. Your father used to be one of my students, you know. When you were first sorted in Hogwarts, I felt the presence of the Kraken Needles behind your back and the fact that you did not lose your humanity as much as your father did was what gave me the sign of potential."

"Meaning?"

"Every time a wizard creates a Horcrux, he loses a piece of his humanity and soul. Your father, Penelope, has killed seven people for the sole purpose of immortality and he's got cobra horns sticking out of his head with smoke instead of hair, plus he has no remorse when killing. But you?" He pointed at past Penna. "You've killed 16 people, past the double of your father."

"He made me kill them!" Past Penna protested.

"And yet you still have pieces of your humanity left and it's just your demonic side that kicked in for physical transformation. At each kill, you still have your consciousness reminding you that it was involuntary. Tom is now an emptied nutshell. You still have your layers."

"So I'm not evil?" Past Penna and the hidden ones beneath the bush almost looked relieved.

"Hm, you're more of a neither good nor evil girl, Penelope." Dumbledore shrugged. "But greatness is not a smooth walk on a bridge over creeks, you know?" He pulled out a pocket watch from his jacket. "I'd say you have a good six hours to get ready before your boat leaves."

"But my potion only lasts a year."

"It's good to take some breaks. And don't worry, I'll have the mandrake rain ready before you arrive. Considering it's my specialty, none of them will believe you would have possibly dared petrifying Tom himself. But I highly recommend that you make more quantities of your potion. You'll need to use it frequently on your journey."

Past Penna nodded and the two got up. She flicked her wrist and a dark briefcase with a silver handle appeared in her hands. The young sorceress did nothing when Dumbledore lifted her chin up to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Take care, my dear."

"Yes, Professor." The membranes of her coat disappeared and her demonic wings sprung out. Penna ran towards the bridge, flapping their wings until they took off.

"When you get to America, wish hello for Newt or Gellert!" He shouted.

"You really take interest in strange people, Professor!" Past Penna shouted before she finally disappeared in the fog.

"Just the greatest." Dumbledore smiled in amusement. He pulled an envelope out of his jacket and placed it down on the bench. He turned his head towards the bunch and winked at Marius, startling the prince. "Not every answer is what it appears to be, your Highness." Dumbledore walked away, whistling and using his Deluminator to give the lampposts their lights back before teleporting himself away.

The time travelers got out of their hiding spot. "Oh, this guy is _good_ ," the Simian Witch said.

"I'll bite. Who the hell is Dumbledore?" Marius asked.

"He was considered one of the best wizards in his time," the Simian Witch said. "He had... some flaws, but he was still good. It did kind of shock me to find out he had connections in dark sorcerers like Voldemort, Gellert Grindelwald, and Penna."

"Penna never said anything about... what just happened to Dumbledore," Feige looked in puzzlement at the directions the past figures took off to while Gladiola picked up the envelope.

"Voldemort didn't even know," the Simian Witch shook her head.

"Uh... guys?" Gladiola held up the envelope that Dumbledore had purposely left on the bench. Their eyes widened when they saw who it was addressed to.

 **Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle**

 **De Mort Manor, in Malevia Village**

 **Auradon Prep, Auradon**

 **Late 2010s**

"I'm speechless, that man is brilliant!" The Simian Witch dropped her jaw.

"He even put a sticky note on the back." Gladiola held up a tiny piece of gray paper. "'Winterfields, I know you messed up time. To fix the last two mistakes, you must go to the original timeline. On the morning with mist just like this and the human bullet ticked the snake.'" Gladiola rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's no better than Pinkamenus."

"The human bullet ticked the snake?" The Simian Witch scowled. "Penna De Mort is immune to guns!"

Marius sat down on the bench. "The original timeline... on a misty day..." He turned to look at the Bergen and the two Troll girls. "You guys know anything?"

"I got nothing on bad weather." Gladiola shook her head.

"I can list you a lot of misty days on the Isle Of The Lost... but they mostly occur at dawn in the fall," Dårlig shrugged. "It used to be the perfect time for the pythonacondas to go hunting around the edges of the Infinite Forest of Evil..."

The Simian Witch's eyes flickered. "Didn't Ruby shoot a pythonaconda to save one of my husband's monkey ninjas?"

"Oh yeah!" Feige grimaced. "She shot Gummy."

The adult looked dumbfounded at Feige. "Penna De Mort... named a pythonaconda _Gummy_?"

"Hypocrite much? One of your killer marmosets was a male named Mary." Marius pointed out.

"Nah, she didn't name him, we did!" Feige pulled out a scrapbook out of her hair. She opened it to the first page, which had a picture of Feige and Dårlig, probably pre-teens at the time, hugging a baby pythonaconda in diapers (don't ask). The three gave big smiles, even the snake gave a fang-less smile.

"He was our welcome package when we first started working for Penna." Feige said before sighing in unison with Dårlig: "It was like raising a..."

"MARIUS, LOOK OUT!" Gladiola grabbed Marius with her hair and swung him out of the way, making him land on the bricked road. The other jumped out of the way when some kind of trompo made of gold swung its way and landed on the bench like a dart.

"A spindle?" The Simian Witch noticed the particular shape of the trompo and its rather metallic tip.

"GET OFF ME, YOU FILTHY POSSUM!"

They turned to look at the top of the bridge. Amanda Von Stiltskin was trying to pull Impius off her face as the imp gave her vicious scratches. Marius whistled and Impius stopped, scurried his way back to his master, and perched himself on Marius' shoulders.

"You!" The Simian Witch pointed at Amanda. "You were there, when I and my inmates escaped after Voldemort took over the Raft!"

"That can't be..." Feige looked at Amanda. "You were there when they escaped?"

"So surprised?" Amanda rolled her eyes and held out her hand. The spindle trompo levitated and flew back in her hand. "I don't blame you. Behind every man, there's the villain who created him, and behind that same villain is the devil who corrupted him. You outsmarting Voldemort? Anyone would buy that. But me collaborating with a low man like Corbeau and using the best dark wizards against themselves without them knowing they were strung by teenagers? That must be my best record!"

"Why on earth would you collaborate with Corbeau? What purpose do you have to gain if he succeeds?" Marius demanded.

"Easy." Amanda leaned on a lamppost, her arms crossed and her toothy smile doing a sadistic grin. "I got bored in Auradon. Barely a week or two after all the VKs got released and permitted into Auradon Prep, I was nauseated by their ghastly world of perfection, bright colors, and constant rule-following antics that keep me from bribing people into contracts that lead into chaos! I missed my old fun, but there was no way I'd go back to the Isle. Just to my luck, I met Corbeau Roth Logan when I spent a weekend in Jump City." Amanda chuckled. "How ironic, the son of two antiheroes who managed to suppress their dark sides... and yet gave in to the bloodthirst of his heritage. We found some common goals in our hunger to sport."

"Because that's how you see being evil?" The Simian Witch scowled. "An entertainment?"

"Yep. We set in our stage and manipulated the actors as our pawns, so that we could both get what we want: I want the world the world in chaos, he wants his pet for eternity."

" _His pet_?" Marius snapped. "That's how Ruby is to him? A mere pet that he can play with?"

"His demonic heritage taught him that humans, especially the powerless ones, are best off as pets. He tried to seduce her, break her heart so that her independent spirit would eventually fade away, and she'd be the obedient pet he wanted. Naturally, Corbeau was pissed when not only did she not break, but she found a better person."

"I don't need to know the rest," Marius said. "You tried to pin it on others for nearly starting a war between villains, heroes, and antiheroes to mask your real intentions. The only reason you helped us during the time travel was because you knew we'd end up with the two copies of the Saturnium and Corbeau would have a chance to steal one of them."

"Boy, you are brilliant!" Amanda applauded. The sound of knives flying in alerted her and she swung her golden spindle trompo really fast, creating a golden shield that blocked the knives. Heck, it even destroyed them.

"Don't let her near the Saturnium!" Dårlig shouted as he kept throwing the knives at a defending Amanda. Feige joined in by cuffing Amanda's wrists with her hair.

"GO!" The Troll shouted.

Marius spread his wings and flew, grabbing the Simian Witch and Gladiola. Impius let out a giddy chirp as they flew into the foggy night.

"Head for Big Bang!" The Simian Witch pointed at the west, where once the fog cleared out and they saw the city below them, they could see the giant clock from before.

Marius found a landing spot. Barely after the three put their feet on the floor, a dark green aura hit them, paralyzing them on the spot.

Corbeau Roth Logan had been waiting for them. He snapped his fingers and the Saturnium floated away from the Simian Witch and into Corbeau's treacherous grey fingers. He wasted no time for discussions and used his magic to quickly turn the keys. The vortex opened and closed once he walked his merry way in. As it disappeared, the paralysis spell dissolved and the group fell on the ground.

"Great! I didn't even see the time he set up!" The Simian Witch growled.

Impius began choking and then spit out something. Marius picked up what turned out to be the last copy of the Saturnium covered in imp saliva. "You sneaky freak!" Marius scratched Impius underneath the chin. He turned to the Simian Witch. "We know when he went... and where."

"The day Ruby and Martin officially met. But how do we know when Corbeau will strike?"

"You're Martin's mother." Marius placed the Saturnium in her hands. "Do your worst."

 _Yet another vortex_

They screamed as the vortex opened in midair and the trio and imp crashed into a pile of rubble.

"I'm getting too old for this." The Simian Witch said as Marius helped her up. He shook his wings to get rid of the dirt.

"I hate time travel," Gladiola groaned in despair.

"Don't tell me we did not land in the time I wanted!" The Simian Witch held up the Saturnium. "I specifically set it on midnight on the day my son met his love! You know, to make sure we get a head start before Corbeau."

"Considering we have no idea when he'll strike." Marius picked up Impius and had him sit on his shoulder.

"No, the stupid hourglass put us in the right time... _just not where we should be!_ " Gladiola hissed as she waved her hand to show the landscape they were surrounded by: an apocalyptic ancient Roman city invested with some snake themes, a few sleeping snakes there and then, and reigned by a giant volcano with a man's face for an entrance.

"This is where De Mort claimed residency on the Isle Of the Lost?" The Simian Witch was somewhat impressed.

"Yep. Far edge of the Infinite Forest of Evil, away from the main population..." Gladiola sniffed the air and groaned in disgust, "and still infested by that hideous odor of volcanic sulfur, snake droppings, and human carcasses. It's your girlfriend's house alright."

Marius was rather stunned by the décor. This was no alternate reality created by a change of the past. This had been part of the present timeline. Just seeing the ruins of an old city buried by lava now serving as the mainland of the sorceress he loved... was rather unnerving.

"I should be able to teleport us..." The Simian Witch prepared to snap her fingers... until Devil Snare vines grew from the ground and coiled around their wrists and ankles. "Was she always this hostile whenever someone stops by her land by accident?"

"Sure, the same way you destroyed half of your domain while fighting her when she snuck in to kill your son," Marius said.

Some of the nearby snakes had woken up and jumped in the air. Like those from the Tri-Relay Race, these snakes transformed into snake-headed warriors, except the main patrol surrounding the intruders were of the venomous kind.

"We mean no harm," Marius spoke to the warriors. "We accidentally landed in her terrain, we know your mistress doesn't like it, so we shall make our way. We are only trying to go to the civilization."

The snake-headed warriors hissed viciously.

"I don't speak Parseltongue, but I don't think they're saying they're saying we can go." The Simian Witch shook her head.


	49. Castle De Mort

Chapter 49: Castle De Mort

Had anyone been living in that time period, they would have thought that there would be no way, even to the last blight (the villain monetary currency) that they'd venture into Mt Vesuvius. And if you doubled the bet just so that they'd go back, they'd probably toss you into the local lava cascades.

As the readers know, only Gladiola had to deal with the experience of going back to the area. For the Simian Witch, she would have dreaded it. For Marius, well, he didn't think it could be any different than Penna's house back in Auradon Prep.

"Is this the right place?" Gladiola asked confusingly. They had arrived, escorted by the guards, into the main heart of the dark estate. The lava cascades had been dried up, leaving some light grey steams to spit it in a yet soothing tone. In the dark cavern, small teal lights were illuminating the walls in a hive pattern. The castle itself, though majestic, gave out the feeling that the building itself is sleeping.

"Isn't the place supposed to be burning up with all the monsters working? Or did Penna decide to put her take-over-the-world plot on hold?" Gladiola was beyond confused.

"Well, since she aimed to be different from her father... I guess she gave the workers a curfew so that they may go to bed?" The Simian Witch suggested. They looked at the guards, who just gave them mere nods.

The gates to the castle opened and they were escorted inside. Shockingly enough, the hallways they passed made them feel like they were walking through a forest of green-and-blue trees made of gems and an earth made out of serpentine stained grass. The guards brought them to some kind of ballroom-sized ballroom, where Brittany Crouch and Roedor Pettigrew sat. She rubbed her eyes in tiredness as she drank from a mug and he rubbed his eyes as he watched floating bubbles show the main locations of the castle.

Brittany straightened herself when the group was brought before her. "It's too early..." She yawned.

"We accidentally landed in your terrain. We are only trying to get back to the city," Marius said.

"You can go back in the morning," Roedor yawned.

"It's morning." Marius pointed out drily.

"I mean like 6am or something."

"It'll be too late."

"Amateurs. Gladiola rolled her eyes. She shrunk to the size of a mouse, escaping her bonds, and grew back to regular. She pulled out a cowbell just her size and began beating it like a loud gong while singing.

Gladiola: _I'm a nice lady_

 _But I can be shady_

 _To get anything I want._

 _You can give me disdain_

 _But I'm all to reign._

Gladiola: _My crown centers the universe,_

 _Because without me, your life would be a curse._

Gladiola: _I am royalty._

 _I am deity._

 _I am femininity._

 _I am society._

 _I am royalty!_

 _I am ROYALTY!_

 _I AM ROYALTY!_

"ENOUGH!" One of the bubbles popped. Penna De Mort landed by punching the floor, creating cracks on the beautiful colors. Judging by her messy hair, the dark marks underneath her eyes, and her wrinkled nightrobe barely covering her, she looked beyond ticked.

"Whose _genius_ idea is it to conspire and provoke my slumber?" She demanded. She froze and darted her eyes at the Simian Witch. " _Crucio!_ "

Magic hit the Simian Witch, who began to twist like a worm. She was biting her lips to keep herself from giving in and screaming.

"So, finally had the nerve to wait seventeen years for revenge by sneaking in my domain and killing me in my sleep?" Penna sneered. "A bit late... AAH!"

Penna stopped her Cruciatus on the Simian Witch when Impius, who was delighted to see her again, pulled away from the leash one of the guards held him by and jumped on Penna, giving her a bunch of cheek lickings.

"Aw, it's a cute little rodent!" Roedor lost all tiredness and rushed to have a better look at the imp.

"Stop licking me!" Penna tried to pull Impius away. The imp did exactly as Penna said but replaced licking with hugging. "OK, whose animal is this?"

Gladiola, the Simian Witch, and the guard pointed at Marius. He had been so speechless, seeing Penna nearly close to how he remembered her.

"Hi," was all he could let out in the cheapest form.

Penna blinked. She dropped Impius roughly, prompting Roedor to slide and catch him. "I... I've seen you before... somewhere..." Penna shook her head. "No, I must be having a migraine."

"Perhaps your Ladyship would care for an early morning bath to clear her thoughts?" Brittany asked cautiously. "Or would you prefer that we move on to interrogating?"

"I'll aim for the first option," Penna sighed. "Keep these three under surveillance once I'm ready for them. And tell the cobras to make me my black venom tea!" She unwrapped her wings and flew her way out. "I miss Dårlig's cooking..."

"Ah, yes." Roedor took a long deep breath. "His croissants frozen in the fridge are nothing compared to his croissants that come straight out of the oven."

 _Later_

They were kept in a rather nice guest room, but dread still filled the air. The guards had confiscated everything Gladiola kept in her hair for inspection, the Simian Witch had gotten silver handcuffs to nullify her powers, and Marius, well, he got nothing. Still, he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't just tell the past version of his girlfriend that he's her future boyfriend. Incineration would ruin everything he had.

Gladiola observed the view from the window. "It's so creepy how they're sleeping so peacefully when they work for a world domination hungry witch. Last time I was here, she had the VKs and reformees in cages and I had to save Ronilda from getting roasted in a lava pit."

The door knocked and opened. Brittany Crouch came in with a tray holding a water pitcher, drinking cups, and a platter full of macaroons. "Her Ladyship didn't want you to starve, so she had me bring you some refreshments."

"Are we prisoners or guests?" The Simian Witch asked.

"In-between." Brittany put down the tray on the nearest table. "She doesn't take kindly to trespassers, but she lets newcomers live longer if she's trying to resolver her confusion. And I must say, you greatly confuse her. The way she blinked at you, it was as if she saw the ghost of her father." She told that last sentence to Marius.

The prince took one of the blue-colored macaroons from the tray and popped it in his mouth. "Definetly Dårlig's cuisine." He said after pleasantly chewing his way through the delicious treat. "Sea salt caramel that tastes exactly like caramel with a pinch of seawater."

"Is this really the time for being a food critic?" The Simian Witch frowned.

"Hey, don't blame him if he went through endless alternate realities just to stop you on an empty stomach!" Gladiola said in defense while Impius proceeded to snatch most of the green-colored macaroons and stuffed them in his mouth. Cascades of green crumbs fell on the floor. "See, even Impius is famished to the point that he only eats the pistachio ones."

"Actually, that's not pistachios. That's kiwis," Brittany said.

"And Impius just loves pastries with the green color," Marius shrugged before eating a regular chocolate macaroon before then saying crossly, "and yes, forgive me if time travelling makes me hungry. I ate nothing, going through a monkey dystopia, Hogwarts in the 1910s, a moon-themed dynasty, De Mort's Estate in 1900, London in the 1920s, and now the Isle of the Lost in last November!"

The Simian Witch pouted like any adult would if they disliked being lectured by a boy. She poured herself a cup of water and drank silently.

"I'm confused." Brittany leaned in and scratched Impius underneath the chin. "I mean, we're all confused right now, those who are awake. But right now I don't understand why you dare time travel in areas that Her Ladyship fancied in the past."

"That's a good question. Silvia, do you want to answer?" Marius snarked at the Simian Witch, who kept pouting, and he went back to Brittany. "Long story aside, we traveled to this time because an enemy to permanently damage reality by preventing a first meeting that's supposed to happen today."

"The official meeting of the Muggle Ruby Kyle and that hybrid Martin Fiske?" Brittany asked.

"Wait, how come you know?"

"You come from the future and yet you don't know this? Her Ladyship is the main regent of all things evil. The world is her chessboard and all the villains in it are the pieces she moves around, to find compatible matches, victories, and failures that lead to the ultimate checkmate. She knows all of them by heart, she gave them their special abilities, and she led them to the ones that would procure them with descendants. She also gives them their weaknesses so that when she pulls the strings, they dare not oppose her. She needed to have Fiske and Kyle come together to push her victory further..."

"Let me guess. She sent in Gummy the pythonaconda?" Gladiola said drily.

"None of us are fans of the name." Brittany shook her head. "But yeah. Her Ladyship intends to use a pythonaconda attack to get those two together."

"So... she's why my... I mean, Martin ended up with Ruby?" The Simian Witch was full of disbelief.

The door opened. Roedor Pettigrew came in and shared some whispers with Brittany. "Her Ladyship is ready to question. She demands that you come." Brittany spoke out loud to Marius.

Marius nodded. He picked up Impius and handed him to Gladiola. The imp tried to reach for its master, but a headshake from him told Impius to behave. Marius followed Roedor out into a hallway before the human rodent led him to the end. Roedor knelt before a circle on the floor and knocked on it, making the blue tiles shift like molting snakeskin. The result caused a spiral staircase to rise. Once it stopped rising, the boys climbed it up until they came across an entrance. Roedor dared not to enter, but he gestured Marius to go in. Once Marius was in, he turned to see Roedor go back down and the staircase followed him.

Marius looked around the office. It was split in half, relating well to its mistress' split personality. The left side was made of dark, unpolished wood, the stone floor was covered in glass shard, broken wood, and unrecognizable stains, and everywhere stood some kind of artistic representation of Voldemort impaled with weapons, stained with magical burnings, or else. The curtains were ripped and spiderweb nests caught the most flies in the area where Penna dedicated her hatred for her father.

The right side, on the other hand, looked much more pleasant. Its dark wood was polished and accompanied by golden trimmings. The chimney let out a warm, teal fire that brought its light on the reflective glass table. A cushioned curule seat was placed in a comfortable area and shelves full of books reached the ceiling. There were cabinets with glass doors revealing countless magical artifacts and an altar holding up some kind of stone basin. What stood out the most to Marius from this side of the room were the animated pictures (he was already made aware on the difference between magical and non-magical photography). They hung on the wall or rested above the fireplace, showing moments where Penna was either in some foreign land or spending quality time with her 'current family.'

The biggest picture of all hung above the fireplace. Just about the height of it fit Marius', it represented two people standing in front of a distant lake. They were a man and a young girl who looked like she could be eleven. Though they were in a pose meant to be still in a photography, they continued to interact, with the man silently caressing the girl's hair. She looked at him with a small smile while biting back the tears she was trying in vain to hide.

Marius recognized the man from the previous time travel. He also recognized the girl in her Slytherin uniform.

"Dumbledore with Penna when she was in Hogwarts," he said rather out loud.

"The only powerful wizard I ever respected."

He turned to the center, where a desk stood. Its chair turned, revealing Penna sitting in it. And in proper attire.

"I was one of his students when he taught Defense Against The Dark Arts in Hogwarts." Penna looked at the picture in softness. "He saw greatness in me..."

"He also saw how much Voldemort hurt you and he knew you weren't doing evil acts of your own free will," Marius said. "He still kept in touch with you even after you turned evil."

"I am the sorceress I am today because of him," Penna nodded. "He encouraged me to build my own potential rather than rely on the inherited. Under his guidance, I traveled the worlds to different wizarding communities, where I learned the different practices and collected more than a thousand artifacts. I have created more villains than my cursed father ever did..." She paused and shook her head. "This is ridiculous! I'm supposed to interrogate you, why am I talking about my life to you?"

Marius tapped his fingers together. "It's... complicated."

"Try me," the sorceress said drily.

"We... I know it sounds impossible to you, but I swear on the River Styx I'm telling the truth." Marius took a deep breath. He walked up so that way there was only a one-foot distance between her behind her desk and him. "We meet in a few months from now... in Auradon."

Penna scowled. She looked like she didn't want to believe him, but since he swore on a sacred river, she knew he was telling the truth. "And?"

"And I messed up big time trying to remove your Kraken Needles... And Voldemort tried to kill you because he found a better replacement... And the Simian Witch time-traveled to stop your evil transformation, and everytime she did that, you died and its the apocalypse, and I had to travel to endless realities to fix them and now it's important that we make sure Ruby Kyle and Martin Fiske's first meeting goes as planned to set things back on track."

"Wait. You tried to remove my needles? And ensure I turned evil?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Marius couldn't answer her. How exactly do you tell you soon-to-be girlfriend, who used to be a so-called stone hearted being, that you care for her?"

Penna could easily tell from his facial expression that he was having trouble answering, so she continued. "How exactly do we end up meeting?"

"You tried to commit suicide," he told her, earning her startled look. "You chained yourself and jumped into a river to drown. Naga alerted me as I was nearby and I flew in to rescue you. I treated your leg, I kind of twisted the truth about myself so that you wouldn't jump to conclusions on the first meeting... and then I asked your name..."

"I highly doubt I'd tell you my name firsthand," Penna said crossly.

"You didn't." Marius shook his head. "You told me 'If I told you, you probably wouldn't treat me as nicely as you are doing right now.'" Penna's expression softened as he continued. "I apologized and asked if you were being mistreated by others. You said 'No, nothing of the sort! It's just... it's hard for others to genuinely trust you and appropriately behave towards you after all the bad things you did that deeply affected them. Maybe if I hadn't done so many mistakes in the past, I wouldn't feel so secluded. The fault's all mine.' We gave each other nicknames so that only if we truly became friends, we'd tell our real names. You called me Bug Fly because I look like a bug and I can fly." He shook his wings. "I called you Viper Eyes because when you blush, they sparkle like Naga's scales."

Penna placed a hand over her mouth in a pose suggesting thought, but considering how she was looking down, it was evident that she did not want to show herself blushing. Her face reacted as she was internally scolding herself.

"I apologize," Marius said sincerely.

Penna immediately snapped her fingers. A small trapdoor opened up and Naga came in, slithering. Why Penna summoned the snake, he did not know, but Marius did not waste and immediately applied the method of gaining trust. But it seemed like time traveling did not affect too much the small bond Marius had with Naga in the present timeline. Currently, the snake jumped on him and gave him some affectionate 'kisses' on the face.

"Aw, you still like me even in the past!" Marius smiled. "If I had known I might run into you again, I'd have brought you a live raccoon."

Naga gave out some sort of pout and hissed.

"Language, Naga!" Penna got up from her seat. "I already spoil you, don't expect to get this treatment doubled!"

"You don't have favorites," Marius pointed out.

Penna covered her mouth with both hands in further frustration. Naga, sensing that things were getting tense, slithered to some corner to rest peacefully without getting involved.

"I'm sorry," Marius said. "I shouldn't have gone to such details."

"Why is this happening to me _now_?" Penna said bitterly as she paced in front of her chimney. "After gaining the world's knowledge on magic so that I could set the pieces to create the world as I want it to rid myself of my overshadowing ancestry, I get this? A sign that I will fail?"

"No, you apparently gave up on it after you realized it was just... part of Voldemort's plan to use you as a weapon... and to reincarnate in you in case his Horcruxes got destroyed."

She turned her back and folded her wings, facing the fireplace. Her arms were now crossed as if to try to comfort her. From her corner, Naga looked sadly at her mistress. Marius could see some tears hitting the floor in silence and gleaming. He walked up to look at Penna: her pride was working hard to maintain itself while her mouth insisted on holding back the noises while the tears did their work.

Without hesitation, he hugged her, causing her to stiffen a bit in surprise.

"Let go..." She failed to say stoically.

"No," he said. "You're suffering and you never deserved it."

 _Before dawn_

Marius had joined them back downstairs and refused to tell them anything on what happened. By the time the enchanted clock in the guest room indicated that it was only half an hour or so left before dawn, Brittany Crouch came back in with a map of the area where 'Gummy' is supposed to be.

"Her Ladyship has her spies placed. They just reported to us on the location of the targets."

"How recently?" The Simian Witch questioned.

"Five minutes ago." Brittany rolled her eyes as if it were so obvious. "The pythonaconda is ready, but its siblings are camouflaged in case Roth Logan dares to attack it first. Since Jessie and Minuit already left for school, they made a stop at the Northern District. Fiske is in his castle while the capuchin is still on patrol. According to Mulciber, Kyle is just about to do her morning bike ride." She pointed at a midpoint in the map. "We'll drop you to this area where you'll have a better look in case Roth Logan appears. It'll be easier for you to apprehend him." She looked a bit ashamed. "Hopefully no tears will be shed when you send him to limbo."

"Is it true what they say about limbo?" Gladiola asked. "That it's a white void of nothingness between life and death?"

"Depends on the ones trapped in it," the Simian Witch said. "When my husband was petrified due to the Yono curse, his spirit was forced to wait in limbo until I had Discord free him. Monty swore that in his perspective, limbo was like a white, empty library in his white, empty castle."

Brittany nodded. "The Dark Lord nearly got trapped there forever. He claimed that while there, he was a bloody, powerless fetus."

"We get it," Marius brushed it off patiently. "Thank you." He clasped his hands. "Time we get there. I can fly us there, or would we use the wizard method of teleportation?"

"It's called apparating. And don't worry, I'll have these two there in no time." Brittany referred to the ladies.

"Fair enough. I'm a fast flyer, I'll be able to reach it in ten minutes or something."

"You are mistaken," Brittany said rather sternly. " _They_ will go. You are staying."

"What?" The three said.

"Her Ladyship has made it clear that you are to stay here for safety."

 _Wow, the irony_ , Marius thought. The Penna he knew in the present had been so insecure, she almost tried to stay away from him. Now, past Penna wanted to keep him safe?

"Besides, isn't _she_ supposed to set things straight?" Brittany pointed at the Simian Witch.

"She's right," the latter said. "And if we fail..."

"We won't fail." Marius corrected her.

"But in case we did, wouldn't you prefer spending your last hours with her before reality collapses?"

Yet again, the situation was becoming ironic for him.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll stay."


	50. Final Battle, Part 1

Chapter 50: Final Battle, Part 1

Seeing Brittany Crouch apparate away with Gladiola and the Simian Witch kind of irked Marius a bit. He wasn't really used to people telling him to stay back for his own safety. Not even his parents obliged such a thing to him, they knew he could fight for himself.

Impius rubbed himself on Marius, giving his master some comfort.

The door opened up and Roedor Pettigrew came in. Marius noted that he looked rather... more trembling than usual.

"Are you alright?" Marius asked in concern.

"I'll be fine." Roedor shook it off. "The mistress asked me to escort you back to her office. She hopes you'd keep her company while our friends deal with the rogue time traveler."

Marius nodded and picked up Impius. Roedor smiled a bit and gave the imp a small pet on the head, making Marius smile. "You know, Roedor, if you want to play with him a bit, you can ask."

"I'd rather not." Roedor shook his head as he escorted Marius through the hallway. With the lava cascades beginning to boil and flow in their regular state, the cavern got its lights of red lava, making the castle feel like it was in the underworld. "The mistress would be cross on me if I did not do my duties."

"What exactly are your duties besides being the son of a Death Eater?" Marius asked out of curiosity. Just when they approached the area where Penna's office entrance stood, they saw Penna out there speaking with other figures. Roedor bit his teeth and scurried behind Marius in fear.

Penna was speaking to Bloodyle Silisk and Indimia Rex, but the third figure, he did not recognize. He looked like he could be in his late teenage years, but it was hard to tell. His skin was pale white and his eyes were icy blue, nearly reminding Marius of his father. He wore a ripped blue shirt with ripped lace sleeves, revealing his midriff, black jeans with a white fang pattern held up by a grey belt, brown furred boots, and grey furred fingerless gloves. His silvery hair with blue dyes grew in curls not just to his shoulders, but also out of his superior, making out a moving tail. Fluffy ears replaced human ones and small signs of hair grew on his forehead and cheeks.

"And remember. I don't want you to merely kill him," Penna told the three sternly. "I want him **mauled!** Eat his remains if you wish, I don't care how you three do the job, but make sure his last wish is that he never should have messed with my business!"

"Her Tenebrous Supremacy will be impressed," the boy bowed. "We will make his carcass a _work of art!_ "

"Sculpture or painting?" Marius asked out loud. Roedor squirmed behind him while the other four looked at him.

"Just in time," Penna told him. "I was instructing some of my best killers to dispose of that rogue time traveler you spoke me of. Brittany told me you confirmed that it was none other than Trigon's grandson."

"The green-haired buffoon, I know," Marius said. "Again, how shall his remains become art? A sculpture or a painting? Because I've always been a fan of sculptors."

The tailed teenager clapped on excitement and rushed on to master. "His Lordship is a fan of brutal art as well?"

"Only when it comes to people I really despise after what I endured," Marius said, "and right now, I'd really love it if you could make an abstract sculpture out of Corbeau's flesh and bones as you send his soul into limbo." He said this in rather dark bitterness, it actually scared his pet.

" _You really know how to pick them, sister_ ," Bloodyle remarked to Penna.

"Can you please go already?" Penna asked her back, trying to keep her cool done. Bloodyle just shrugged and began making their way. The tailed boy, on the other hand, started sniffing Marius near the neck area. "Vanagan! Do I have to shoo you out again with a Cruciatus?"

"He's a dormant Legilimens." Vanagan backed up and stopped sniffing.

"Pardon?" Marius asked.

"You're a dormant Legilimens," Vanagan repeated. "You can see others' memories. Though judging by the smell, you can see them by touching sensitive areas. But why so tardy?"

"Vanagan! Out, now!" Penna barked.

"Yes, your Tenebrous Supremacy." Vanagan bowed to both her and Marius and left to join Bloodyle and Indimia.

"Don't just stand there, Pettigrew!" Penna barked. "Go babysit the imp and stay out of my sight!"

"He doesn't have to," Marius said patiently while holding on to Impius. "I can take care of my imp while we're in your office."

"And raise the chance of your imp getting accidentally eaten by Naga?" Penna questioned.

"Unless you told your pet to back off."

"Um, good point."

"Still," Marius looked back at Roedor, "if it's alright with you, Roedor would like to play a bit with Impius. Not as a job, but for fun."

Penna rolled her eyes. "Fine. But don't expect some kind of raise, Pettigrew."

"Thank you, mistress," Roedor said gratefully. Marius smiled and handed Impius to Roedor. Roedor left, cooing Impius in his arms.

Marius followed Penna up the staircase to her office. "My apology concerning Vanagan Greyback. He's as savage as his father, the werewolf Fenrir, but at least he has more respect to me than he and his father did to mine."

"What happened to him?" Marius blurted out as the staircase hid back in its place.

"Meaning?"

"Sorry. It's just... around the time I familiarized myself to you, I learned about your comrades," Marius explained. "Bloodyle is your adoptive sister, you adopted Minuit and Jessie, you welcomed Feige and Dårlig as wanted personnel, and you value Indimia. You despise Death Eater children like Bayen, Brittany, Roedor, and Drystan Troy for still being loyalists to your father. But Vanagan... he's a bit new. No one told me about him. I don't think the VKs knew about him."

"And be glad they didn't," Penna commented. The floor opened up and upward came a table full of food. "Vanagan is one of those barbaric werewolves who allied to my family not for beliefs, but for the promise of massive victim numbers. And their specialty is biting children, forcing them into the wizard-hating werewolf society."

"Once again, I'm surrounded by villains trying to sell one another off," Marius rolled his eyes. He looked at Penna, who flicked her wrist and recited some kind of incantation. Her teakettle and cups levitated itself, pouring in the tea while floating spoons brewed them well.

"I only use Vanagan in case of emergencies, which is why I normally keep him hidden in the under layers of my castle." Penna took a deep breath and took a cup for herself while she had the spare one levitate right into Marius' hands. "I prefer though that he stays clear away from my very loyal ones, particularly Minuit Sparkle and Jessie Joker."

Marius nodded and drank the tea. "Uh. Serpent venom tea is surprisingly delicious," he commented.

"It's regular black tea in your cup," Penna said. "I can't have you die through poisoning."

Marius nodded. "Still good tea." He kept drinking.

"You really are a confusing one," Penna said. "Despite the minuscule information you give, you still act as if I am worth your trust. I could have poisoned you with venom tea, something that only I can tolerate to drink, and you immediately drink it without question."

"Well of course," he looked at her. "I trust you."

"I'm Penna De Mort," Penna said drily. "Nobody trusts me. Even my most blindly devoted servants know that there are times when they shouldn't trust me, and forgetting that fact is their worst mistake."

"He trusted you." Marius pointed at the big picture of younger Penna with Dumbledore by the lake. Contrasting to earlier, now they were sitting on the grass and it looked like Dumbledore was tutoring her to some spellbook. The sorceress' expression softened when she looked at the portrait. "He trusted you in his way, and I trust you in my own way. Not like..." Marius gritted his teeth. "Not like how you trusted _Mandire_."

Penna looked stunned and put her cup down. "When I thought you looked familiar, it reminded me of someone I met before I killed Mandire Sullivan..." Marius turned to look at her. "You were that awfully nice boy who wore the Gryffindor uniform."

Marius chuckled awkwardly. "Time travel, am I right?"

"Why didn't you stop my evil transformation?" Penna demanded. "It sure would have been a brilliant triumph, seeing my father fail, considering everyone hates him! Why would anyone want to repeat history?"

Marius looked hurt. "History needed you. If you weren't here, the present would just be a dystopia. You'd have died miserable. Minuit and Jessie would have never been born." The mention of the latter two not existing seemed to sting Penna. "I..." Marius finally admitted. "I didn't want a world without you in hit."

Penna's eyes widened even more, the cup exploded behind her. Marius rushed to pick up the debris and throw them into a nearby waste bin.

"I really wish to not believe you... but I can't," Penna bit her lip.

"Then believe." Marius got up. Without even thinking, he took Penna's hand, leaving her too frozen to respond. "Accept the fact that when things are fixed and time is back on track, someone will be waiting for you in a few months from now and that person doesn't care if you're an evil or a good person. Because that person cares for you as you are."

"Dumbledore's beard, you sound like him!" Penna rolled her eyes, slightly amused. She patiently slipped her hand off his and went to sit on her chair to watch the flames in the chimney. "Probably why I didn't just kill you on the spot after I dismissed you earlier. His portrait gave me one of his 'You know better' looks."

"Believable." Marius nodded and began pacing around the bookshelves, curious of her reading preferences. He picked up and dusty pamphlet, blew on it, and as the dust cloud vanished, he read the title. "' _Mudbloods And The Dangers They Pose To A Perfect Pure-Blood Society'_? Why do you even have that? You're not a pureblood."

"Christmas present from Drystan Troy. Doesn't help that his mother signed it." Penna rolled her eyes. "I do enjoy smacking him with it."

Marius flipped through the pages, which was just nonsense. "Muggle-borns stealing magic by taking wands from witches or wizards? Registration committee? Imprisonment in Azkaban? Feeding children to Dementors? I don't even know most of these words, but this doesn't sound like your kind of evil."

"What's my kind of evil, then?" Penna questioned.

"More about revenge against your father than power. Mild dislike to royalty and antiheroes." He waved the pamphlet in disgust. "Considering the ones you prefer over the children of the Death Eaters, it's saying something!"

Penna smiled a bit before going back to being grim. "Besides craving immortality, my father hated being half-blood. Half-wizard, and half-Muggle, a term we use to define non-magical humans."

"Like most of humanity? King Ben?" Marius asked.

She nodded. "Before I managed to subdue him for good, through puppet manipulating, Voldemort managed to create a dystopian British Ministry of Magic. Created a Muggle-born Registration Commission, an excuse to actually imprison innocent wizards to Azkaban. Made it easier to dispose Muggle-born children by feeding them to Dementors, phantoms who suck the joy out of you."

"That's terrible!"

"Indeed. But in my father's perspective, I made the job easier. More than half of the threatened Muggle-borns begged me to kill them rather than face Dementors." Penna sighed. "Years of traveling, and I've seen how wizards and Muggles look down at each other." She snapped her fingers and books and pamphlets began flying around her and Marius, each with unique book covers and titles.

" _Muggelgeborene Sollen Auferstehen_." Penna spoke in German while holding a red-and-black book before levitating it for Marius to see and sending it back its shelf. "'Muggle-born Shall Rise.' Not exactly what I expected to find when I visited the Nazi-occupied territories of Europe. Considering the tastes of the German Muggles back then, I expected pureblood fanatics, but no, I met fanatics trying to _support_ Muggle-borns. Make them superior to half-bloods and pure-bloods by imposing rules similar that the Nazis did to the Jews."

"Voldemort must have fainted," Marius joked.

"No, he never found out." Penna picked up a Russian book. "I can't fully read Russian, but this one is translated in English. I got it while visiting the USSR after the Russian Revolution. They wanted to encourage a half-blood population. Selected the Muggle-borns and pure-blood witches needed for the reproduction. Disposed the Squibs and the steriles. I wasn't really surprised for that one, most witches and wizards _are_ half-bloods." She went quickly through the books and sent them back to their shelves, all except for one. "This, however, is my favorite." She did a hand gesture, asking Marius to come join her. He did so and leaned over to read the title.

" _'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them_ '." Marius read the title. His eyes widened when he saw the name of the author.

Newt Scamander.

 _When you get to America, wish hello for Newt or Gellert!_ He recalled Dumbledore shouting to Penna during the previous time-travel.

"Was he a friend?" Marius asked. "Newt?"

"Was a friend?" Penna scoffed. "We're _still_ friends! He may still be in England, but he and I still have every other Saturday night chimney talks! I used to visit him after he retired before I came here." She opened the book, revealing a taped figure of Penna from the late 1920s with a man holding a briefcase, two women in American style clothing, and a chubby man. The group was standing with the Statue of Liberty far behind them. Underneath the picture, there was a written dedication.

 _ **To Pensilisk, the one creature I have the greatest joy of having as a friend and fellow research partner. -Newt Scamander**_

"Pensilisk?" Marius asked.

"His nickname for me. I used to call him Officephobic..." Penna chuckled. "Because his boggart, his worst fear, was to work in an office!"

Marius had to admit, it did make him laugh a bit.

"He's three years older than me. We used to go to Hogwarts together, though he was sorted into Hufflepuff," Penna went on. "He was one of the rare, brave people who dared to befriend me outside of Slytherin, at the risk of being friendless himself. I helped a bit, studying some magical creatures. But then, when I was in third year and him in his sixth, he got in some kind of experimental accident. I don't know what fully happened, but some girl named Leta was to blame." She paused. "The Ministry began to conclude that I was to blame as the Dark Lord's daughter, but Newt took the blame. He got expelled, but since Dumbledore stood up for him as he always did to me, Newt got to keep his wand."

Marius bit his lip. He didn't know if what he was about to do would or wouldn't ruin everything, but he reached inside his layers of exoskeleton and pulled out the envelope addressed to Penna. Her eyes widened as she seemed to recognize the handwriting.

"Before coming here to fix the last details, the first thing we needed to get was a message from a departed," Marius explained as he held the envelope before Penna. "The Simian Witch used the Saturnium to take us back to when Dumbledore met up with you at a park before you headed to America. Right before _he_ left, he put this on the bench you sat... and he looked at us."

"And you're surprised?" Penna asked sarcastically. "Even time-travelers fail to dub a genius like Dumbledore." She frowned at the envelope's address. "Malevia Village in Auradon Prep?"

"It's where all the descendants of the Isle stay in Auradon Prep. It's where you'll live..." Marius said. "It's where you lived, trying to make up for your past mistakes. There have been some who acknowledged why you did your misdeeds and tried to help you move forward, with no luck. There have been others who tried to attack you for what you did. I endangered you the most. I wanted you to be free, but I ended up making you vulnerable." He pushed the letter into Penna's hands. "Maybe it might be best if you just read it now."

Penna looked at him. She then went on to delicately open the envelope as if she wanted to preserve the plucked petals of a rose. Finally, she pulled out the delicate paper full of black-inked lettering. She didn't have to read it out loud, for Dumbledore's voice spoke right from it.

 _Dearest Penelope,_

 _By the time you read this, I will have long passed away and you will be in a time of great difficulty. Your greatest enemy has still yet to be vanquished, and the reason why I know so is because you still haven't taken in what I told you: you are neither good nor evil. Only when you accept that you are what you are will the conflict of your darkness and light be cleared and make way for a clearer future._

 _You may also notice that when you receive this letter, it was given to you by a hybrid, a descendant of Titania and Oberon, and a royal heir. Yes, I know, you don't even want to know how I knew this, but this is what happens when you don't listen well in Divination class. Regardless, I know who he is and I know what he is. He is to you everything that Mandire Sullivan never was. Surprisingly enough, for someone of his kind, he is a dormant Legilimens, and you must help him fully reawaken before the worst occurs._

 _I wish you the best of luck, Penelope. You have always been to me the daughter I could never have._

 _With greatest of intents,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

 _P.S: Don't be surprised when the cavern walls start banging._

The letter stopped talking and fell onto Penna's lap.

"What did he mean by 'don't be surprised when the cavern walls start banging'?" Marius asked.

"It means I made the mistake of keeping you back." Penna flew off her chair and to her desk. She pushed it aside with such strength, she did it in just one push. Parseltongue words slipped out of her month and the floor tiles, like snakeskin shedding, moved to form a hidden staircase.

"You know for someone who's apparently antisocial, you have so many hidden staircases," Marius commented.

"C'mon!" She grabbed Marius by the wrist and had him follow her, running down the staircase before it closed behind them and the desk moved back in place.

 _5 am, back to a familiar place_

Silvia, Gladiola, and Brittany were hiding on top of a hill, using binoculars to keep a visual of the dead end that stood on the Kraken Trail. Despite the fog, the sound of a sportbike engine alerted them and Ruby came in view.

"OK." Brittany zoomed her view. "She's supposed to stop at the DEAD END, Gummy comes in, the fog shields him, she accidentally bumps on his tail, injures her leg, and cue capuchin in distress."

"Not how one imagines reassembling the eventual love of their lives encounter," Silvia rolled her eyes as she kept her eyes on Ruby. "She's getting closer..."

But before Ruby could even reach the DEAD END sign, a familiar blast of dark green magic hit the two tires. Losing control of her steering, Ruby yelled as she ended up falling off her vehicle, landing painfully on her leg.

"Corbeau surely didn't waste anytime!" Gladiola looked horrified.

Speaking of the devil, the fog immediately cleared to reveal Corbeau Roth Logan and Amanda Von Stiltskin standing by the debris of the sportbike.

" **You!** " Ruby spat at Corbeau.

"Miss me?" He said coldly.

Ruby responded by pulling out her gun. Amanda was way quicker and threw her foot at Ruby's wrist, pressing it on the ground.

"Well these two are no saints," Brittany Crouch actually winced.

"How the Hell did you get in the Isle?" Ruby demanded. "The dome holds in villains and keeps out heroes!"

"Yes, but those with ancient magic defy the laws of the barrier's magic." Corbeau walked towards Ruby while Amanda pulled her up by the hair, making her scream. "Pity. To think that after putting you in an island full of savages, you'd have learned what was best for you."

"Forget it!" Ruby spat. "At least the villains here have better decency than you! I'd rather died murdered by one of them than being back in the mainland with you!"

Corbeau shook his head with that indifferent expression in front of him. "Amanda, you may proceed."

Amanda snickered and waved her familiar golden spindle trompo. "You ever heard of gold poisoning? It's ten times worse than mercury poisoning. It solidifies your veins until it hits the heart, killing you into a statue with golden veins. Your pick, darling. Submission, or poisoning?"

Silvia got angry. She got up and pointed a finger at Amanda. ' _Crucio_ ,' she hissed in bloody anger.

The Cruciatus curse worked effectively, since Amanda began screaming. She let go of Ruby to clutch her paining head. The Death Eaters jumped out of their hidings and Brittany lead out a whistle. Soon enough, the pythonacondas in hiding slithered their way out to form a circle around Corbeau, who glared at the giant snakes around him.

"You think you can stop me?" Corbeau twisted his body until he transformed into a giant dark green T-Rex that began attacking the nearest pythonaconda. The giant snakes began attacking him in a pack while the Death Eaters shot him curses, which he seemed to have enough time to hold back with a magic shield. Meanwhile, Gladiola rushed to Ruby while Silvia got deeper in torturing Amanda. She pushed in the pain, it led Amanda to back straight to what separated her from a certain death via rocks standing out from the ocean.

"Please, I can't swim!" Amanda begged.

"Oh, the imp is afraid of swimming?" Silvia pouted. "What was I thinking? Getting myself toyed by a mere teenager! You understand nothing about the meaning behind evil! I became evil to protect my family! You merely do it as entertainment!"

"I'm Rumplestiltskin's daughter!" Amanda spit through her fear. "It's in my nature."

"Yeah..." Ruby groaned in her pain while Gladiola held her close. "Hey, ma'am? Amanda's got a limp leg."

"Oh, you're right. I can't just use magic on a disabled!" The Simian Witch put an end to her Cruciatus Curse and used her magic to fly the gun back in Ruby's hands. Realizing what was to happen to her, Amanda threw out her trompo, but using her spare, uninjured hand, Ruby shot a bullet right at the string. The golden spindle fell right on the floor. She sent in a second bullet, this time right at Amanda's limp leg. The poor imp screamed and grabbed her leg in pain, she lost her balance and fell over the cliff. The waves were so loud, no one heard her die.

"We need to get you out of here." Silvia rushed and picked up Ruby in her arms. She looked back at the battle scene. Some of the Death Eaters had been injured, two pythonacondas were dead, and Corbeau was now fighting his way around the remaining snakes in a green bear transformation. Just then, at the other end of the road, she saw a familiar jeep pulling in.

"Keep Corbeau busy!" She told Gladiola and teleported herself and Ruby out of the way. Gladiola took a deep breath, pulled out her Torch of Happiness, and aimed it at Corbeau.

" _Being of despair and sadness, you cannot bear my barrier of happiness!_ " A gust of rainbow colored flames burned their way out, creating a fiery, colorful bricked wall that pushed Corbeau towards the old, stone wall that Gummy (in the previous fanfic) had pinned Ruby. He had to transform back in his regular form to hold back the wall, lest he wanted it to crush him. Brittany and some other Death Eaters joined in and aimed their wands at Corbeau.

"With me!" Brittany shouted.

" _Protego!_ " They shot their magic at Gladiola's 'bricked wall', enhancing the rainbow cement around the bricks, making them heavier for Corbeau to push them away. Cracks began to grow on the stone wall behind him.

"Give it up, Corbeau! You and I both know that your demonic powers, though inherited from someone as powerful as Trigon, are minimal to the power of happiness that my Troll ancestors have been carrying for generations since the universe existed!" The Troll Princess shouted.

"Seriously, why do we never get one of those?" One of the Death Eaters complained. "All we get are the stupid ones!"

Corbeau gritted his teeth in frustration. Then, his eyes began to dart around the area they were in. His face suddenly got a realizing expression, which led to him transforming into a green rat. The enchanted bricked wall collapsed immediately.

"Get him!"

Curses were shot and the remaining pythonacondas tried to jump in to eat, but all attempts failed to kill the green rat, which transformed into a green raven that flew its way over the Infinite Forest of Evil.

Meanwhile, Silvia had managed to reach the jeep. It startled the butler loyal to the Fiskes so much, seeing his master's wife on the Isle, but he chose to listen to her and helped Ruby sit on the front passenger's seat.

"We can't explain everything to Monty," Silvia shook her head. "Just tell them that Ruby tried to bravely save the monkey from one of De Mort's pythonacondas, and she would have died if you hadn't intervened. Monty and Martin will believe it, they'll welcome her."

"I understand, mistress." Bates nodded. "Though I wish you could, at one point, tell them the truth. Milord already misses you terribly and the Young Master is not doing so well without his mother."

Silvia bit back her tears. "He's better off without a failure off a mother like me. What kind of a mother am I? I confused family duties with my delusions."

The door was still open, so Ruby reached out and held the Simian Witch's hand, startling the latter. "I wish my mom were more like you," she said with a small smile.

A small tear escaped the sorceress' eyes as Ruby brought herself back in and closed the door. Bates wished the best of luck to the sorceress and hit the engines, driving the jeep away from the dangerous zone. Silvia cried as the jeep drove away from the Kraken Trail and towards the direction of the Northern District, where Ruby would meet her destined love of her life.

Rubbing her tears away, she joined the others in confidence. "Good news! The matchmaking operation is at a good end!" She looked around and frowned. "Where's Corbeau?"

"Yeah, hold your applause, he went this way." Gladiola pointed at the Infinite Forest of Evil.

"What?" Silvia looked at the forest and then at the direction the jeep drove off to.

"Rather confusing," Brittany nodded. "It's too easy. That dirty blood has so much power, he chose to run away. Yet why did he not run after that girl he was after?"

"He did seem rather confused," one of the other Death Eaters agreed. "I could have sworn his eyes moved. Like he noticed something was missing."

Silvia's eyes widened in horror. "How could I have missed it? He saw Marius wasn't here and went after him!" She facepalmed herself.

"But I thought we agreed Martin and Ruby had to be reunited to eventually share true love's kiss, which is one of the mistakes we had to fix along with sending Corbeau to limbo!" Gladiola said.

"Gladiola, you said the riddle was 'reunite a couple through true love's kiss'!" Silvia exclaimed. "Sure, it would have made sense if it were Martin and Ruby, but now that I think about it, everytime I changed reality by stopping Penna from turning evil, I prevented many couples from joining!"  
Gladiola pondered a bit more, unable to link the dots, but Brittany caught up faster. "Hold on. Are you saying... that the fellow with the imp pet is a couple with her Ladyship in the future?"

"Ooh, Bayen is going to be _jealous_!" One of the Death Eaters said in a sing-song tune.

"Penna wanted Marius to stay back!" Gladiola's eyes widened. "She was immediately drawn to him, much faster than Penna in our time. And since their connection is genuine, she might dare to risk everything and try to kiss him!"

"And Corbeau knows that it poses a risk to what he wants." Silvia looked back at the forest. "Corbeau is going to try to kill them."


	51. Final Battle, Part 2

Chapter 51: Final Battle, Part 2

Marius wasn't sure what Penna was leading him through. Considering how they went down a staircase hidden underneath her desk, it could have been a secret passage, but at the end of it awaited a dead end. All it had was a strange painting of a triangle split in half and a circle resting at the base. Penna traced the middle line from top to bottom with her finger. The painting glowed and the circle pulled out to make a doorknob. Penna pulled the doorknob, pulling the bricked door and stepping inside after forcing Marius in.

"Either we wait here until I'm certain or we get lost trying to find an exit out of my territory," she said as she enchanted the door to close behind them.

"Penna, what exactly is this place?" Marius looked in awe at the place they were in. He couldn't tell if it was some kind of mere chamber, everything in the castle had the size of more than one stadium. But this place could just about be the height of Ben's castle and the width of the Auradon Prep campus. The ceiling was supported by pillars carved out of emeralds that seemed to be floating off the ground. Trinkets, artifacts, and other things frozen were piled up like a series of molehills, forming an indoor maze.

Penna muttered some kind of inaudible incantation and the wall painting suddenly appeared on their side of the wall. "There," she said with a small smirk. "Who knew the Deathly Hallows symbols could make a wonderful enchanted key?"

A strange, small wail got Marius' attention. Gently walking their way from hidden areas in the maze, strange dark winged creatures resembling fleshed horse skeletons. Then again, considering how they were foal-sized, Marius couldn't help but find them adorable. He gently knelt down and held out his hand, waiting patiently until finally, some of the ghastly cute critters approached and allowed him to stroke them.

"I see the Thestral foals have taken a shine on you," Penna said quietly.

"That's what they're called? So cute!" He cooed at one of them. "Why are they here, though?"

"Because they're like everything else in this place. Things I want to get lost from my mind." Marius looked at Penna confusingly. She motioned around the room they were in. "These are things I've kept from my past but that I try to forget. They aren't like my Horcruxes, which I hide away, or the artifacts I value in my office. These are..."

"Bad memories?" Marius guessed.

"Like stashing my skeletons in a basement instead of in a closet." Penna nodded. "Thestrals can only be seen by those who saw death. Thestral mothers only bear foals when someone has died. And murderers get followed by the herds of Thestrals born after their victims." She looked at the foals playing with Marius. "I guess you've seen death."

"Not like what you've seen." Marius let the foals go their way back to their parents resting in nests hidden in the piles. "The deaths I've mainly witnessed were of people dying from disease in my world. I felt helpless, not being able to find a cure. I decided since then to study aromatherapy in order to create healing oils and perfumes."

"An alchemist!" Penna said fascinated. "No wonder Vanagan and Dumbledore thought you were a Legilimens!"

"They're mistaken." Marius got up. "I have no magic."

"Well Vanagan did say you had the odor of a late bloomer," Penna continued.

Marius shook his head, followed by his wings. "I'm a winged fairy, Penna. I'm not supposed to have magic."

This made the dark sorceress frown. "Is that what they tell you in the Fae Realm?"

"Yes. Winged fairies don't have magic... I mean, the best we can do is use impressive persuasion to tone down a conflict."

Penna held out her hand to cut him off. "That isn't magic or persuasion. That's just a fake name for manipulative diplomacy."

"Besides, only wingless fairies or nature demons have magic," Marius said. "Your mother was a nature demon from the Fae Realm. She's the one who gave the Sugar Plum Fairy the main ingredient for the love potion."

"Ugh!" Penna shivered her wings in disgust.

A distant, loud noise seemed to be coming from above the maze's ceiling and perhaps just outside of Castle De Mort. "Use your Legilimens talent," she told him.

"I... I don't know how to do it! The last two times were just dumb luck!"

Penna walked up to him and took his hands in hers. Marius looked at her in confusion.

"Do not focus on where you are," she guided him as she closed her eyes. "Think of yourself in the middle of a fog clouding your environment and the mind of others will open up to you like street lamps marking the locations."

Marius took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He saw himself standing with Penna in the Maze of Lost Memories, only the interior was beginning to fad away as if the colors were blurred. In a strange way, he felt as if Penna's presence was in the blurred cloud, shielding him.

 _Focus on the minds_ , she spoke to him through his mind.

 _I want to see every mind within the perimeter_ , he thought.

Immediately, the presence of other minds began to glow in his. It created a network of lit up lights in his dark cloud, he could hear the thoughts of every being in the castle, in the volcano, and in the ruins of Pompeii.

He finally saw what he was looking for.

"Corbeau's at the gate. He's trying to hammer his way in like a green rhinoceros," he said.

"My gate shaped like my ancestor's head?"

"Yes."

"Expand your sight a bit more. Do you see the boulders standing above the gate?"

"Yes?"

"Focus on them. Repeat after me. _Gemino."_

 _"Gemino._ "

His eyes popped open when he saw what was going on outside. The boulders rolled off into the ground, causing Corbeau to turn into his regular form and jump away from it. Once they came in touch with the ground, in a hydra effect, each boulder duplicated itself, prompting more clones until the effect created quite a landslide, it blocked the gate.

 _"What in tarnation?_ " Marius heard Corbeau's thoughts.

Penna nudged Marius and the two ran into the maze. After at least three turns right and four turns left, they stopped by a pillar with the Deathly Hallows mark. Using the finger-tracing maneuver from earlier, Penna unleashed a key that transformed the part of the maze they just got out from. The piles of trinkets glowed in the darkness as the maze rotated in a clockwork pattern until it stopped once it hit 10 o'clock. The local Thestrals flew around in fright until the section froze and they could land safely.

"We should be good for now... unless he finds a way to dig his way in." Penna clasped her hands together. She noticed that Marius wasn't responding to her, turned, and found him petrified as he stared at a mirror. His facial expression implied he was breaking into tears, as if he wanted to rip apart the mirror and risk seven years of bad luck.

She snuck behind him and shielded his eyes with her hands. This seemed to make him calm down. "What happened?" He asked.

"Walk this way." Her hands still covering his eyes, Penna gently flew a few inches off the ground and guided him away from the mirror. She let go off him as they were in an area with stacked, dusty books and birdcages filled with what seemed to be layers of baby beast carcasses.

Marius rubbed his eyes until he could see clearly. "Am I alive?"

"You wouldn't be if you were talking," Penna said in a small joking tone.

"What happened?" Marius asked. "All I remember is getting out of the way and I saw this mirror. The rest is... confusing."

"It was the Mirror of Erised," Penna explained. "An old souvenir from Dumbledore after he passed away."

"Why did you put it here?"

"It's no ordinary mirror. It shows what one desires more than anything. Many wizards have gone mad to the point of dying just to see what they desire most."

"Ah." Marius nodded. "You know yours, but you don't want the mirror to remind you, so you out it here. I understand: getting Voldemort out of your life and prove that you are that you are your own villain..."

"You confuse my life's goal with my deepest desire," Penna crossed her arms and tried to look away from Marius, but failed.

Marius managed to connect the dots. "Your deepest desire was to be loved, wasn't it? Not just as a surrogate sister to Bloodyle, a parent to Minuit and Jessie, or a friend to those who cared for you... All you ever wanted... was romance."

"It doesn't matter." Penna bit her lip. "I showed a sign to someone, that person got killed. I've attracted wizards who only saw interest in my darkness, my figure, or my relation with Voldemort. I can't produce nor consume a stupid love potion." She sighed. "The mirror is just a reminder that I was destined to be alone, hated by everyone, with no given chance surviving."

"You're wrong to think that everyone hates you."

"Please!" She scoffed. "One mere person can save me and pretend he cares just to avoid getting killed!"

" **Pretend**?" Marius got angry. "Oh yes, it sounds _so_ easy, wouldn't it! I didn't even know you when we first met in my time and you think me saving you from drowning was pretend? I bet a pretender could easily pretend being your friend if he knew who you were from the start! _I wanted to be your friend before even knowing your name!_ _I defied rationality just to take off your Kraken Needles! I was almost willing to slap you when you wouldn't stop talking about your self-depreciation and being nothing more than Voldemort's daughter! I risked ANYTHING, JUST SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO LOSE YOU BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE MY LIFE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT YOU IN IT!"_ He didn't dare to move or look away, but at least he made his tears visible to her.

She was speechless. It took a while to react, but her cold fingers reached out to wipe his tears. Her full hand eventually went to caress his cheek and her eyes widened further.

"You... _love me_?" She asked in a touched tone.

He smiled in his tears. He caressed the back of her hair and began pulling her face closer to his... until he sensed a mind approaching.

"LOOK OUT!" He threw Penna out of the way and she crashed on some books, cushioning her fall. Marius had shoved her right before something erupted out of the tiled floor. A giant green mole emerged and transformed into Corbeau Roth Logan.

"Did you think I was so oblivious as to not notice your failed presence?" Corbeau's teeth gritted through his indifferent face.

"I'm royalty, unlike you," Marius shrugged suggestively. "Maybe I didn't want to get my hands dirty?"

"Or you stayed back to protect your destined-to-be-girlfriend?" Corbeau clenched his fists, releasing small, dark green auras. "Any true love's kiss enacted by a reunited couple could have re-established the course of time! Didn't you think it occurred to me that you kissing De Mort would slip my mind?"

"Hard to say." Marius scowled. "You were so obsessed with Ruby."

"Right now I'm obsessed with killing you!" Corbeau shouted. " _Avada Kadavra!"_

He shot his magic at Marius like bullets. Marius didn't flinch. The killing blasts did not reach him, but they turned back to aim at Corbeau. They missed as he turned into a raven and flew on top of a pile while the blasts hit a column.

Penna looked stunned that Marius was not killed.

"Rusty?" Marius asked Corbeau. "I know I can't be touched by a Killing Curse. Even Voldemort said I have the same barrier that shielded Potter! Unlike you, Corbeau, I love my girlfriend..." He smiled at Penna. "And past, present, or future, I know she feels the same."

A truly happy smile grew on Penna.

"Fine! Then, I'll kill you with brute force!" All of a sudden, Corbeau's eyes glowed red. His magical aura, usually dark green, turned into a dark, bloody coloring before disappearing as he transformed into a wolf. The beast pounced at Marius, but the latter had found a stranded wire post (he had no idea what it was doing in a place like this) and swung it at the wolf's neck before then kicking him on the side.

" _Aguamenti_!" Penna shouted and raised her hands in the air. Water began rising from the floor and up the maze. Corbeau merely growled in indifference as he turned into a shark and swam in the open water space while Marius and Penna flew above.

"You think water will stop me?" Corbeau asked.

"No. I thought you'd make easy bait."

The piles began to move to form the pattern of a twelve-pointed star, with each end leading to an upright manhole that opened. "My brothers and sisters!" Penna shouted. "Dinner time!" She whispered in Marius' ears. "Close your eyes."

Marius closed his eyes and Penna took his hand, guiding him in flight while letting the entering basilisks charge at Corbeau. The two flew into one of the manholes, and when Penna told Marius to reopen his eyes, he saw that they were flying in giant pipes. They finally reached the end of the pipe and entered a chamber with numerous snake head statues and a giant face sculpture matching the one from outside. Bloodyle, who stood in the corner, pushed a circular door over the manhole and locked it with metallic serpent keys that stayed firmed once in place.

" _How bad is it?_ " Bloodyle asked Penna.

"I don't know how much time we have. That dirty blood is more insane than Bayen! We stop him at the Kraken Trail, he storms my ancestor's head gate! We block the gate, he digs his way into my basement! I don't know how long the basilisks can hold him."

"Out of curiosity, why did you flood the place?" Marius asked.

"Basilisks hunt better in wet areas." Penna groaned. "Probably why my ancestor put his Chamber of Secrets underneath a lavatory... and I did a similar thing with mine."

Marius took some spacing on the wet floor of the chamber. "OK, I think we can all agree right now that running away or trying to merely capture him is not going to work. We need him to find us and we kill him."

"Ooh, do it! Do it! Do it!" Vanagan Greyback jumped out of nowhere and began jumping like an eager kid at a pep rally for butchers. "And then, we'll save most of him for dinner, we'll spread the rest all over the Isle, we'll join the search party and look at each other while trying not to laugh!"

Penna and Bloodyle groaned in exasperation.

" _Or_ I could try to distract him with my Legilimens power and you three could jump on him to distract him."

"Make that four." Vanagan twirled his finger in a circular motion. "Indimia is camouflaged somewhere in the chamber."

"Vanagan, if you shut up, you and Indimia get first helpings on mauling Corbeau."

"I got dibs on the hands!" Vanagan raised his hand in the air.

"Are you sure about this?" Penna asked Marius.

"Yes. I distract Corbeau, Vanagan and Indimia will injure him enough that he won't be able to counter-attack when you and Bloodyle bring in the final blow."

 _Meanwhile_

Brittany Crouch and the rest of the Death Eaters managed to apparate just by Riddle's memorial with Silvia and Gladiola.

"I hope we're not too late," Silvia said in worry as she looked on at the volcano.

"Give me a break. Apparating is nothing easy!" Brittany panted before getting her energy back.

 _Later_

Marius sat by the pool that laid between him and the Salazar Slytherin face statue. In a Lotus position, he waited patiently until he heard the door exploding from a blast of magic. Corbeau came in, his soles barely touching the floor as he marched towards Marius. "I see you finally decided to give..."

Corbeau was unable to finish his sentence. His body was slowing down to the point that he couldn't move his muscles, except to breathe. "What in tarnation?" He said out loud.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Marius smiled as he got up and walked up to the frozen Corbeau. "It's not as impressive of the known Petrificus Totalus spell, but I actually managed to cast an Immobulus charm at you from my head!"

"You? With magic? Please!" Corbeau spat.

Marius shrugged. With one hand, he pulled down Corbeau's hood, revealing his head covered in green hair. Marius was one of the rare people who got to see what the hood really hid: two eyes of different colors, one blue and one green, and a yellow gemstone implanted on his forehead. Without hesitation, Marius put his index on Corbeau's gemstone and a series of black-and-white colored memories flashed forward.

He saw a hoodless, toddler Corbeau playing with his parents, a grey-skinned woman with purple hair and a fully green man. He then saw Corbeau looking horrified while some adults rushed to some knocked out child.

"' _I worry about Corbeau, Fairy Godmother_ ," a memory of Mrs. Raven Roth-Logan was seen speaking to Fairy Godmother in her office. " _His magic just came out after a mere disagreement among children. My son got magic... at only six and at an unhappy moment._ "

" _Didn't the parents understand that Corbeau didn't mean to_?" Fairy Godmother asked.

" _Yes, but I don't know what to do. I hoped to wait until he was eleven or twelve, close to how old I was when I had to learn to fully control my powers! I can't force my six-year-old son to be emotionless when he's only six!_ "

" _Just do whatever you and your husband find necessary to make sure that Corbeau doesn't harm himself or others through unstable magic_ ," Fairy Godmother warned. The memories went on as young Corbeau grew, educated by his parents to control his emotions while controlling his magic and his shapeshifting. His innocent childlike face dissolved to the point where the infusion of the gem on his forehead froze his indifferent expression in permanence. Marius then saw what looked like a distorted cloud of grey smoke and dust growing and darkening inside of Corbeau, to the point that in Corbeau's head, all living beings were nothing more than invisible in the dark and only their diverse colored blood pumping to serve as light in the dark. _'_ _ **How they have failed**_ _.'_ Marius saw a pair of red eyes speaking to Corbeau's strange dark grey cloud. ' _ **They can easily snuff out the light of a hero or villain, but extracting the darkness of an antihero is way more difficult. See what they have made you**_.'

' _Mine!_ ' The grey cloud hissed as the memories showed Ruby back when she was dating Corbeau to the time they broke up while she was being sent to the Isle. Despite her shouting at him, the grey cloud wouldn't stop looking at her blood in glowing black and white colors.

Marius let go of Corbeau and backed away. The latter dropped on his knees and let out sounds of angered pain. His indifference was beginning to disappear for anger as he looked at Corbeau. "What did you do to me?"

"You're an Obscurial," Marius said, stunned. "A parasite that grows in a child when forced to suppress their magic. Even the Fae Realm denizens know better than to inflict such a curse on their gifted young, why would your parents do such a thing to you?"

"They didn't think I would be a menace!" Corbeau said, his tone angry but his face struggling to stay indifferent. "You should know what it's like, being of mixed blood! Everyone believed that by combining my parents' two opposing personalities, I would have a balanced sanity! All it took was a small incident and I was forced to enter neutrality! My mother thought I would be able to control it just as well as she did, but what she didn't expect was that me forcing to put out indifference and all other turmoil emotions in, my dark heritage lead to the creation of my parasite!"

"You don't have to be like that, Corbeau," Marius said. "What if we could find a cure?"

"Don't you dare play mind games with me!" Corbeau raised up and scowled at Marius while his green hair began to move like agitated seaweed.

"Why would I play mind games? I didn't even realize I was a Legilimens until I embarked on this..."

"No!" Corbeau shouted, his eyes glowing red. He shot a blast of magic, now made of the grey Obscurial cloud rather than his usual dark green magic. Marius flew out of the way, leaving the blast to hit Salazar Slytherin's statue on the nose. "All it took was a merry night with your girlfriend to waken your power! Why didn't I see this? An Occlumens like Penna De Mort, normally capable of shielding her memories and thoughts from others, cracks and finds her match in a dormant Legilimens!"

"Corbeau, you have to calm down," Marius tried to sooth him. "Your suppressed emotions confused your judgment. I want to help you..."

"I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP BUT YOUR DEATH!" Corbeau dissolved into his Obscurial cloud that turned into a cloudy wolf, charging at Marius.

"You shall not hurt his Lordship!" Vanagan jumped in and pinned Corbeau down, engaging into a tackle that involved growing and biting. Feet stomped on the water, and Marius saw Brittany Crouch, the Simian Witch, Gladiola, and some other Death Eaters coming in.

"Keep him busy!" Marius pointed at Corbeau right when Indimia came in and helped Vanagan get a hold of Corbeau's arms after he turned into a bear.

" _Aguamenti!_ " Brittany and the Death Eaters waved their hands. All the water in the chamber coiled up and around Corbeau, trapping him in a current of chains.

" _Incendio!_ " The Simian Witch shot red fire at the water chains, creating boiling bubbles that made Corbeau yell as his skin burned.

" _Burning earth from the crater, make it so that liberating Corbeau is harder_!" Gladiola's flames made it so that the water cuffing Corbeau's wrists and ankles turned into rocked chains.

Bloodyle and Penna emerged from their hiding spot. Penna immediately sent in a Cruciatus curse on Corbeau, making him scream to the point where it seemed like he was going to give up until he exploded into a grey cloud blasts that sent everyone flying in the chamber. Rage had finally hit him.

"I WILL MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER!" He turned his rage to Penna, who was just beginning to get up. " _Sectumsempra!_ "

A white blast came out of his hand and aimed at Penna. A scream came as it hit.

Penna did scream, but she wasn't hit.

Everyone gasped in shock and horror, even Corbeau was so stunned, he did not notice Naga slithering on the Salazar Slytherin statue, making an impressive leap, and sinking her fangs into his neck.

"Marius!" Penna let out a sob and caught him as he fell on his back, his chest growing in blood stains.

Marius had gotten hit by Corbeau's Sectumsempra spell to protect Penna.


	52. The Return

Chapter 52: The Return

Corbeau's screams were lost in the splashes as Naga constantly sank and pulled out her fangs out of his neck. By the time Impius and Roedor had arrived in the chamber, the defected antihero's body lied dead on the ground. Nobody paid any attention as the Simian Witch threw an angry pulverizing spell at his corpse. The Obscurial became nothingness and had now joined the white realm of Limbo as a raven made of grey clouds, lacking all flesh and morality.

Marius gritted his teeth. Blood was rising all over his chest. He began to feel as if not only his exoskeleton armor but also his bones had been chopped. The curse also brought him some pains on his back.

"You... idiot..." Penna cried as she held him while Brittany worked on a spell to seal up his injuries. She recited an incantation three times, but even though Marius looked like he had regained all his blood and lost all cuts, he looked like he was still in excruciating pain. Marius began gasping for more air.

"Crouch, what's happening?" Penna demanded. "You used the curing spell for the Sectumsempra spell!"

"I don't know." Brittany put her ear on his chest. "Somebody! Get me a knife or something sharp!"

Vanagan immediately volunteered. Using his clawed fingers, he ripped open the exoskeleton armor. Marius groaned even more when he felt the open air hit his chest. Meanwhile, Penna gasped in horror.

Somehow, when the curse hit and injured Marius, it cut a small fragment of his armor's inner layers. That fragment was sticking out on a bleeding area over where his heart is. Marius screamed in pain as Vanagan pulled out the fragment and started coughing.

"An armor made of dead wood," Vanagan said. "You got your heart staked."

Impius made an unhappy chirp. Naga slithered to him, nudged him with her head, and let Impius hug her while he was crying.

"Corbeau's gone to the limbo for good..." The Simian Witch said grimly. "Marius' sacrificed distracted him to death... and it's my fault." Gladiola held the sorceress hand. The Troll Princess, usually positive, looked beyond unhappy.

The Death Eaters all raised their wands in the air. Soon enough, the dark chamber was illuminated by a curtain of sad stars coming out of the wands while Penna kept holding Marius in her arms, nearly cradling him.

"You idiot..." She kept repeating through her sobs. "I could have saved myself. Why did you..."

"You're a tough one to convince, aren't you?" Marius let out a smug smile despite the pain. "Weren't you ever told that when people are in love, they do the dumbest things in the universe."

Penna cried and caressed his cheek. "Besides," he said, "I feel like a saint."

"What?" Penna frowned.

"I read it in a book." He pointed at his bleeding heart. "You think a plant will grow out of my blood and be named after me when I die?"

Penna couldn't hide her small laugh through her tears. "Contemplating the possibility of being part of the next edition in Herbology? You _are_ an idiot."

"And you're the best thing that ever happened to me." He coughed more blood, and this time, his breathing began to slow down.

"Marius..." Penna held him closer to her. "Please, don't go. I... I can save you if I sacrifice one of my Horcruxes!"

Marius held his bleeding hand with hers. "It's OK, Penna. It's not really farewell. Just good-bye."

"But I don't want you to go!" Penna protested.

He coughed out more blood. "Remember the Mirror... in your basement?"

"Yes."

"I saw you with me in it. You were complete and happy... with me back in my home." He coughed out a small smile. "You even showed the kids some magic."

"You desired having a future with me?" She said softly. "I had children in it?"

"There were three... I don't remember the names of the male twins, but you seemed rather fond of the little girl..."

She said the same name at the same time as he did. "Nadia." She smiled. "I always wished to name a daughter Nadia if I could have one."

The injury got worse. Marius felt he only had a couple breaths left in him. "I have nothing left before I leave... except all my love for you."

Tears fell down Penna's cheeks even more as she leaned down and pressed a kiss on Marius' lips. His breath finally gave in and he died in her arms. She sobbed even more and hugged his dead body in her arms.

"Ow!" Gladiola pulled out the Saturnium hidden in her head. Its material turned red and burned, prompting her to throw it to the ground. It smashed and the glass spread everywhere. A rainbow-colored vortex came in and began to suck everything in. The Death Eaters tried to fly away in fright, but they got sucked into it. The chamber began to dissolve as its stones got pulled in, the Simian Witch held on to Gladiola, but they got dragged in.

"Roedor!" Brittany grabbed her boyfriend's hand but followed in.

"I don't like where this is going!" Vanagan screamed as he, Indimia, and Bloodyle got sucked in.

Naga and Impius tried to rush to their masters, but the vortex pulled them in. As everything fell apart, Penna still held on to the now dead Marius.

"I'll be with you," she told him. She did not move and still held on to him as the vortex vacuumed everything in the castle, in the volcano, in the Isle, and everything else in the universe.

 _..._

Marius was in a dark, empty space. He did not know what laid in the darkness. All he knew was that he laid there, his eyes closed. His chest hurt and he felt like some sort of invisible volume was weighing him down. He must be dead.

 _Oh, my poor son._

He heard his mother's voice.

 _I swear, if he doesn't wake up, I'll be decapitating some humans_ , his father's voice sounded angry.

Though closed, his eyes struggled to open. "M... mother... Father?"

"He's waking up!" He heard Daylight speak eagerly.

"Quick, get a nurse! He'll probably be parched!" He heard Grannyselda shout.

Marius opened his eyes. He wished that he didn't dream it all. Please, he wished that he wasn't back home in the Fae Realm and that whatever happened in Auradon wasn't a dream. He opened his eyes fully and sighed in relief when the first thing he saw was a lamp hanging from the ceiling of a room. He turned his face and saw that he was in one of the hospital rooms in Auradon.

"Sweetheart!" The Fairy Queen Marianne immediately cupped her son's cheeks and placed a series of soft, tearfully happy kisses on his face. "We were so worried."

"Mom, you're suffocating me!" Marius complained in embarrassment. She gave him some air and he sat up on his bed. That's when he saw the bandages covering his chest. "What happened? While I was gone?"

They went on to tell what happened ever since he left to catch up to the Simian Witch. Shortly after the events, things have been stirring. Corbeau Roth Logan had left the Raft for the direction of the Simian Witch's lair, and to cause enough distraction, he somehow got the chains of Kalai Tamatoa to break. While she was causing chaos on the waves, the people in the Raft were in peril and debating to save themselves or continue serving Voldemort out of fear. Many decided to do the wise thing and let some rescue boats send by Ben to collect them. Martin and his friends had barely escaped, some fighting occurred, and Voldemort and Penna began fighting one another. Then came the strangest thing: first, cracks grew in the sky. Voldemort and Penna were petrified in ice while some people got trapped in state where they nearly dissolved into ash, only to reform, and the cycle repeated. Then a red light flashed all over the world...

"Honestly, the rest is so confusing," the Bog King shook his head. "It was like we all landed back in the arena, where we are for the last part of the Tri-Relay. Fa Li and Fiske were back from the Raft, Artemis Nightmare was awake... and the Simian Witch brought you injured."

"What did you do to her, cousin?" Daylight asked.  
"First time we met her, she was all ready to kill. Now, she's currently held in confinement in Ben's office. She said she'd be ready for whatever punishment Auradon gives her."

"What about her followers?" Marius asked.

"Ben is working on trialing with them. If they're bad enough, they go to the Isle, but those with a shot at improving themselves, they have to do hours of community service. He gave the kids the choice to either go to the Isle with their parents or stay in Auradon. A majority of them are going back to the Isle."

"At least most of the children from the Raft have chosen to stay in Auradon," Queen Marianne said.

"And Corbeau Roth Logan and Amanda Von Stiltskin? Are they... dead? Still" Marius asked, hoping that if they weren't, they'd finish the job.

His parents gave an awkward shrug.

"Roth Logan is in limbo. Ruby Kyle's father had the death authorities check on him. He's trapped there for eternity," the Bog King said

"I pity his parents," Aunt Dawn said sadly.

"They were more unhappy with their son's actions than him being in limbo. Ben declared that as long as Corbeau wouldn't move on, he'd be trapped in limbo."

"You should have seen Mr. Wayne. He insisted that Corbeau was locked in Tartarus," Daylight told Marius. "Sadly, that fate was reserved for Amanda. When she died, she ended in the underworld, but instead of being revived and sent back to her father in the Isle, she got placed in Tartarus."  
Marius grimaced a bit, recalling how Martin told him during a spare time that when Ruby was briefly dead, she was forced to play poker with the gods trapped in Tartarus. "And Penna? Is she OK?"

His relatives looked uneasily at each other. He looked like he wanted to cry. "No..."

"Relax, she's still alive!" Grannyselda rolled her eyes. Marius sighed in relief.

"We just... don't understand what happened," Marianne said. "When we all landed back in the arena, so did Penna and her father. But they each had some kind of... change. Voldemort immediately dissolved into nothing and Penna suddenly got covered and sealed into some kind of cocoon. Nobody was able to crack it open, but they did manage to bring it to the hospital."

"When was that?"

"Five days ago."

"I was out for _five_ days?" Marius exclaimed. He tried to get out of bed, but the nurse just came in with a glass of water and gave him a stern look. He pouted in anger and slouched back down despite the pain.

"He still needs some rest," the nurse told his family, "just until the wounds scar up." She briefly turned to Marius. "As for you, I'd recommend either no armor or replace it with some other material. You're lucky that you survived." The nurse left the room.

 _Later_

His relatives gave him some time alone to breathe. The medics did come around to check on him, bring him some water, or occasionally serve him medicine. Marius felt like he wanted to gag when the human medicine went through his throat. When the pain soothed down and he was alone, Marius got up from his bed and to the mirror. His reflection showed himself taking off the bandages, revealing the scars. Marius groaned when he saw that even when healed, his scars still made him looked like he got traced to become chopped meat.

He tilted his head as he heard someone's mind. "That's mean, Mal," he said without turning his head. "I don't look that sickly."

"So Bloodyle wasn't kidding when she said you could read minds," Mal said. Marius turned his head. Ben and Mal had come, with a cart full of goodies.

"The Auradon Prep and St Luther Rose Academy student bodies sent you these as a thank you," Ben said. "For everything."

Marius nodded, though honestly, he would have preferred news from Penna as a reward than getting things he could get anytime of the year. Nevertheless, he didn't decline eating a chocolate bar or two. "How much do you two remember?"

"I remember barely anything," Ben shook his head as he sat down. "It was almost... as if nothing happened."

"For me it felt like I was alive... but I had no magic," Mal said. "It's weird but... I saw my mom as a regular human, but she was way nicer to me. Almost makes me think that having a human mom was better than being Maleficent's daughter."

"Maleficent... didn't happen to be human before she became evil, Mal?" Marius asked cautiously.

Mal shrugged. "I don't know. Then again, since Penna gave her the sleeping spell... But mom doesn't like humans. Why?"

"Curiosity." Or maybe Penna hadn't created Maleficent out of a mere mortal. Perhaps Maleficent was once someone with dormant powers that awakened after meeting Penna, like he did. He looked out the window, where the landscape was sunny with some signs of clouds. As he thought, it made him wonder more... _who else_?

"How's the Simian Witch?" He asked.

"She and Monkey Fist are currently discussing with their son," Ben said. "I hope things work out."

"She does love them. She just prioritized revenge over family," Marius kept staring. Who else out there with magic decided to use their talents for assaulting those who wronged them, thus clouding their judgment?

"You're not going to believe this." Mal smiled. "Artemis proposed to Lonnie! She said yes and her parents approved! They'll be getting married in the summer."

"Why would Artemis rush on such level?" Marius asked, still looking away. He thought about the Lunar Dynasty that Artemis ruled in the alternate timeline.

"Well..." Ben hesitated. "It was a little accident..."

"Lonnie forgot to take her medication. They decided to marry in the summer to cover for the fact that they're going to have a baby in winter." Mal chuckled a bit.

"Look on the bright side. Shopping for baby showers is always fun."

Marius recalled Artemis' concern back in the alternate timeline. _Do you not know the lyrics? 'A man by bearing arms, a girl by bearing sons?' I fear that if Lonnie learns we're having a boy, she'll think it's China all over again._ He then recalled Corbeau's memories and how Corbeau's anger caused him to unleash his Obscurial. Marius could still not forget how he jumped in to save Penna and the Sectumsempra spell killed him in such a painful way, he almost wished to be spared by the quick death from the Killing Curse.

"I must go see Penna," he said. "Please."

Ben nodded, understanding his distress. He guided Marius out of the room and into the hallway. Not many nurses came to bother them on the way, so the walk was easy. They arrived to a room where instead of guards, Dårlig was leaning on a chair, sharpening a knife with his blades.

"Look who it is. Hero of the month." He greeted Marius with a fist bump. He opened up the door for Marius, leading him inside the room. Naga hissed happily and made room for Marius to approach the strange, human sized cocoon lying on the ground. Marius knocked on it. It was as solid as stone.

 _Open,_ he demanded. He raised his hand and stamped it onto the cocoon. Cracks glowing like burning wood spread throughout the hard surface. A green light blinded them while the cracking sound got louder. Finally, the glow died... and a figure emerged.

Penna lifted herself up almost the same way that a vampire would rise from his coffin, only she looked exactly how she was envisioned back in the Lunar Dynasty. She unfolded her wings: they were no longer demonic, but the beautiful purple swallowtail wings he had seen in the alternate timeline. But as he had a closer look, he saw that her membranes glowed like fireflies.

"How are you?" He let out.

Penna lifted her head up and immediately slapped him on the cheek. "Ow!" He clasped his chin.

"Don't _ever_ save my life if it gets your life in peril!" She snapped at him.

"Oberon's horns, it's my parents first meeting all over again!" Marius rolled his eyes. She grabbed him by the collar, nearly making him freak out until she pulled him into a kiss. He was confused at first, but he joined in.

 _Later in the week_

The Pride Games were over. After the series of events, it was agreed that it would be most suited to name both schools victors. Now that the real Principal Melchior was back to take his job, he decided that changes would be made to St Luther Rose Academy. He began to meet up with Fairy Godmother to discuss making the schools sisters and to organize occasional exchange programs. For the descendants of the Raft who chose to stay, they chose to either stay in Auradon Prep or transfer to St Luther Rose.

Right now, the classes had been cancelled so that the students could enjoy their remaining days together before the parting party and then it would lead to summer vacation. Penna and Marius were sitting on the bleachers of the Tourney field, eating ice cream with Ben and Mal, Martin and Ruby, Alva, Gwendolen, and Dusk.

As she ate her strawberry ice cream, Mal recalled the prophecies mentioned before by the seer-powered descendants. "'The ship of terror rising from below! The passengers on it will strike their anger to those who have imprisoned them.' That was about the Raft rising from the sea."

"And about the SAP sorcerers trying to get revenge on me," Penna said.

"'An ancient poison to the universe making its return, consuming the darkest parts among us to rip us away from one another.'"

"That's a twisted meaning," Gwendolen said. "When heard, anyone would have assumed the 'ancient poison' was Voldemort, but it was actually the Saturnium. Its use poisoned reality and threatened to rip us from our loved ones by destroying reality.'"

"'The silhouettes of the two antiheroes who have betrayed their own friends for their own greedy reasons,'" Mal continued.

"Those were Corbeau and Amanda. He was born antihero, she claimed to choose good over evil, but they were already corrupted on the inside," Marius said grimly.

"'The poison controlling the one with an unbreakable mark of villainy and turning him into his own heartless slave of darkness'. That one was confusing."

"I thought it meant me because I was born with my mark of villainy and Voldemort wanted me to replace Penna," Martin said. Ruby hugged him in comfort.

"But it could also mean Corbeau," Marius pointed out. "He tried to stay neutral and keep his emotions in check, he caused an Obscurial to grow in him. Maybe the 'unbreakable mark' was how he became evil on the inside on his own and he had nothing on the outside to prove to others that he was evil."

"'The Dark Child clashing against the poison for the sake of the world despite her already weakened soul caused by the crown'," Mal finished.

"That one was my fault," Marius sighed.

"It wasn't." Penna held her hand in his. He smiled back at her.

"There's still something that still ticks me," Ben admitted as he finished his ice cream. "If in the Fiske Empire timeline, you kissed your first crush, Voldemort died, but your life ended up miserably, whereas when Marius kissed you when you were still evil barely last November, you turned into this," he waved at Penna's new appearance, "you Kraken Needles disappeared, you no longer rely on Horcruxes to live, Voldemort died, and yet you still survived?"

"He does have a point," Ruby said. "You were supposed to be your dad's backup Horcrux."

"But my mother knew that preventing Penna from turning evil would cause Voldemort's downfall, and the key was her first kiss of true love," Martin said.

"Yeah, how did it work out with your folks?" Alva leaned on his seat and asked Martin. Everyone glued their eyes on Martin.

"Well..." He fidgeted his fingers. "I've shared my angry words to him. They didn't defend themselves or protest, and they told me they'd understand if I never wanted to see them again. I said I was angry, not stupid."

"You forgave them." Mal nodded.

"I guess I can kind of understand why they did it. I mean, if Ruby had never been revived, I bet I'd gladly spend my remaining years trying to get revenge on Penna."

"Gee, thanks," Penna said drily.

Ruby smiled at Martin as she rested her chin on his shoulder while he continued. "Anyway, they're getting hours of community service. Mother's going back to our castle... and Ruby's dad managed to pull some strings so that they can visit on the weekends and holidays."

"Either Bruce Wayne got infected by Ben or he really loves you, Ruby," Mal teased Ruby.

Ruby shrugged. "I don't have to ask for anything. He knows what I care about and it makes him the best bad on the planet. Besides, I told him what I remembered: when Lady Fiske actually fixed her mistakes and she saved me from Corbeau."

"By the way, Ben, I think I may have just figured out the answer to your question," Dusk said.

"Really?"

"Yes. Penna, last time I checked, Mandire was a pureblood, right?"

"Uh, yes?" Penna raised an eyebrow.

"And you are, if I'm correct, what wizards usually label as 'half-breed'."

"That can't be." Mal looked at Penna. "Aren't you half-blood?"

"No, Dusk is right." Penna said. "My father is part-wizard, part-Muggle. That's what wizards label as 'half-blood'. 'Half-breed' is when you mix the genes of human and non-human. My half human side, through Voldemort, is composed of Muggle and wizard blood. But I don't see the link."

"Well, Marius could almost be considered half-breed since he's part-fairy, part-goblin," Dusk said. "Perhaps your statuses of mixed genetics brought you two closer. Not to mention that if Mandire was among the purebloods, its possible that he wouldn't have cared that much about you because of your differences in blood purity."

Penna chuckled in exasperation. "Just like the rest of the fanatics. And it took me a hundred years to realize it."

"At least it was worth the wait?" Marius asked.

"Stop asking stupid questions." She smirked at him.

"Well, if we all had to sum it up, what have we all learned from yet another crazy adventure that our parents caused and nearly threatened our lives?" Mal asked.

They were finally done with their ice cream.

"That parents are a weird species that drive us nuts?" Alva raised an eyebrow.

"That heroes, villains, and antiheroes are not so different from one another and my boyfriend Sirenius is going to spend summer vacation with me?" Dusk smiled.

"That even after all we've been through, some fanatics made 'Team Muby' T-Shirts," Martin pulled out of nowhere one of the Team Muby T-Shirts that have been circulating around school," and Ruby still hasn't given me her answer to my marriage proposal?"

Ruby groaned at the sight of the T-Shirt but then teased her boyfriend by poking him on the nose. "That you'll have to wait until your folks fulfill their community service hours so that I can give you my answer?"

"What? I have to wait that long for 'Lady Ruby Fiske'?" Martin exclaimed. He raised his hands up dramatically. "My parents ruined my life!"

"How, by messing with time or by returning your singing talents and now Louie King has you joining some other guys to form a VK boy band?" Gwendolen asked, making the others laugh.

"I learned nothing." Mal shrugged.

"Seriously?" Ben frowned.

"Well, maybe that we just had less screen time."

"I already said what I learned before." Penna slouched.

"I learned that even though I lost my internship, the Ministry of Magic is keeping me around." Gwendolen flipped out some envelopes. "I'm getting interviewed by experts to explain why I have my talents in probability predictions and star-readings."

"You might just be a Muggle-born." Penna shrugged. "Oddly enough, many talented sorcerers were either Muggle-borns or half-bloods. Some theorize that Muggle-Borns are descendants of Squibs, the non-magical children of wizards. The dormant magical gene must have awakened you... Though I do not understand why its tardy... Like Marius... Marius?"

Marius was barely paying attention. He was sitting and looking rather spaced-out, as if he trained his eyes to look normal while his mind was focusing on turning the gears in his head. To bring him back on Earth, Alva leaned in and poked a small bolt of electricity on Marius' arm. "Ow! Watch it!"

"Sorry. You spaced out."

"No, I paid attention by listening to your thoughts." Marius rubbed off the area where the electricity hit him. "I apologize for the lack of attention. I was just thinking about things related to magic."

"Like how to explore it further now that you know you have it," Gwendolen asked. "Honestly, considering how your maternal family is a long line of descendants of Titania and Oberon, I'm surprised that it's only now, for the first time, that an heir will become the first mage ruler of the Fae Realm."

"But that's just it, isn't it?" Marius said. "Apparently only wingless fairies and nature demons can have magic, I happen to have some. Humans try to either approve magic or put it under constant check, the wizarding world getting barely involved unless they deem gifted individuals dangerous, people with dormant magic they do not realize is there until it strikes them back... or purposely suppressing it inside and it corrupts them." The images of Corbeau being an Obscurial flashed his mind. "When I first came to Auradon, I thought I was going to have to create foreign relations to fix the treatment of humans towards fairies, but after what I've seen in the course of the Pride Games..." He got up and raised his arms up. "Folks, I have an amazing idea." He told them the idea. "Well?"

"It sounds like an amazing plan!" Ben got up in excitement. "I can summon the UN and Fairy Godmother can help us communicate with all the magical governments!"

"Aren't there already a lot of those on the planet?" Mal asked.

"It would be different!" Marius corrected. "It would be international, welcome to anyone of all species, and it could be a great source of influence for all those born with awakened or dormant magic or anyone interested in learning more about understanding it! It would be based in the Fae Realm and thus help foreign exchange!" He looked at Penna. She was merely filing her nail with an emerald nail file. "You don't like the idea, Penna? I thought we could work on it together if it's approved."

"No, I like the idea," Penna said. "It's just bringing me déjà vu of school."

"Oh, you mean when you had a hard time at Hogwarts?"

"That and twelve rough years of teaching magic in about ten schools of magic. 6 of them were just as important as Hogwarts and the other 4 were not as popular. Tragically."

"You taught magic?" Mal said. "Wait, did any of those schools realize that you were Voldemort's kid."

"Honestly, if you knew what I had to go through between Mandire's death and the Isle Of the Lost, you'd be as shocked as they were."


	53. Moving Forward Into The Future

Chapter 53: Moving Forward Into The Future

"I guess you probably would think I have no business in offering such a thing, but I have clear reasons of doing so," Marius spoke through the speaker of the podium, a stage light shining on him and making him stand out from the silent audience. "You see, traditions have made many of us believe that the magically-gifted should be separated from the non-magical."

While Marius was speaking at the conference, other things were happening around Auradon. Maintenance was taking down all the installments from the Pride Games and saving them for years later. The students were helping clean up Auradon Prep and the gym was finally fixed.

"But the ostracizing, the alienating, and the twisted aspects of said beliefs have made the connections harder," Marius continued. "I first thought that humans were enslaving magic users, but after week of observing, I saw that both parties were no different than each other."

Sternia folded her last piece of clothing, put it in her suitcase, and sighed. A knock came at her door. She opened it and saw Karlos Python holding a bouquet of greenish yellow roses. Sternia smiled, accepted the bouquet, and placed a kiss on Karlos' cheek, making him blush.

"And as they prioritized on those who've been confirmed gifted, no one took notice of those with dormant powers that would awaken much later. Or worse, when they force a gifted person to keep their emotions and magic under stressful check, the person then becomes an Obscurial."

Martin hugged his parents one last time before they went inside the limousine. They exchanged glances from the back window and kept waving back to him as the vehicle drove off, sending them back to the Isle along with other villains. He lowered his head sadly and walked back to Malevia Village.

"The eldest generations have made their decisions, but now it's time for the youngest ones to step in, create new traditions, and move forward to a new world where magical and non-magical beings can finally co-exist in harmony."

Lonnie checked the baby testing stick. She sighed and sat on her bed as she saw that the little cross on the stick told her she had been pregnant for two to three months. Her parents sat next to her, reassuring her that it wouldn't be too bad. Artemis came in looking anxious and admitted foreseeing that a son was on the way. Lonnie and her parents didn't seem particularly affected... until Cassie cracked a joke implying that the boy might inherit the 'Mulan Method of Cross-Dressing' and they might as well just give the baby Lonnie's old baby clothing. This made everyone laugh.

"This is why I, Marius Bogfae, crown prince of the Fae Realm and the descendant of Oberon and Titania," Marius finished his speech at the conference, "offer the opportunity to open a new school of witchcraft and wizardry. An _international_ school that would offer the magic-gifted, dormant or not, to study magic and for the non-magical to learn how they can cohabitate with their friends."

The murmurs were rising in the room.

"Muggles attending a school with wizards?"

"Also including half-breeds?"

"It sounds great!"

"It sounds impossible!"

"Who would do such a thing?"

"Prince Marius, you offer an amazing opportunity," one wizard raised his hand, "but I must ask. Is De Mort involved?"

"Yes," Marius said calmly. "Is that a problem?"

"No. It's just... what would you tell us to convince everyone in this room that incorporating You-Know-Who's daughter in your offer is a good idea?"

"Nothing." Marius shrugged.

Murmurs of confusion rose.

"I know many of you have reasonable reasons behind not trusting Penna, and I cannot force you to change your opinions. But know this. Close to last year, nobody believed that the children of villains and heroes could live together or go to the same school together. During the Pride Games, we wondered how the children of villains could tolerate the children of antiheroes. We have our moments of believing why things shouldn't happen, but it's only when they happen that we learn."

 _Time flies_

The newspapers had been going around in Auradon. Auradon Prep was setting up for the farewell party while the luggage of the antiheroes was being loaded onto a bus.

Penna tapped her fingers nervously until dark carriages pulled by adult Thestrals arrived. The doors opened and she smiled at the people who came out. People she knew from before and that she had contacted.

"Officephobic!" Penna ran and hugged the first friend she saw.

"Great to see you again, Pensilisk." The aged Newt Scamander smiled as they broke off the embrace.

"How are the kids?" Penna asked while she embraced her other friends: Newt's wife Tina Goldstein, Tina's sister Queenie, and Queenie's No-Maj husband Jacob Kowalski.

"They're good. They're supervising our great-grandchildren for the summer," Tina said.

"Good Lord, Jacob! Even past your nineties and despite your gray hair, you still look the same way you did back in the 1920s."

Jacob tilted his head. "Always the insults before the compliments," he said, amused.

"Thank you so much for being able to come." Marius shook hands with Newt Scamander. "Penna spoke highly of you."

"Yes, well... she's something." Newt nodded. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting an owl from her for a while, but when she invited me and some of her old friends to work with you to start a program for your new wizarding school, I jumped in."

"I can't wait to see your suggestions for the Care of Magical Creatures class. I've read some of your chapters and I thought your section on Nifflers was really peculiar because their personalities remind me of those of an imp."

"I have my call to Transfigurations!" A woman with a long nose and blue-feathers instead of hair called out.

"Is it true that you actually offered Sternia Snape to teach at the new school?" A Brazilian wizard asked Penna.

"Yes. But don't worry. She's fine with Potions and you'll still have your spot in Herbology, Pyran."

"And you, De Mort-san?" A Japanese half-breed witch asked. "Will you teach Defense Against The Dark Arts?"

"Obviously." Penna rolled. The group headed inside the school. "It's going to be a busy summer."

"Not as busy as the years of documentation!" One witch moved her way around the group, holding a dusty manuscript half her size. " _Je vous en prie,_ Pénélope! When can we publish this? I can't wait until you die!"  
Penna froze and stared at the manuscript. "I can't believe this! All these years and you've still been dedicated to it?"

"The world must know the truth! It will be the greatest work I've ever written and published!"

Curious, Marius put his hand on the cover and wiped of the dust. The title glowed once the dirt was gone. "'The Life And Times Of Penna De Mort'?"

"I kept thinking she'd give up, but no, this witch has been fully dedicated in trying to create a biography about my life."

 _In the night_

Rainbow-colored fireworks glowed in the sky. VKs, Auradonians, and reformees partied in the school gardens for the end of the school year, the end of the Pride Games, and the beginning of new friendships. Alma threw in her hat in the hair to create a shower of glowing marigold petals over the audience.

Once again, Melody the mermaid hip-hop sensation came back to sing. "WHAT'S UP, AURADON?" She shouted through her microphone at the crowd of cheering fans.

"At this rate, this is becoming déjà vu!" Jay shouted over the screams of joy. Last time Melody came to sing for Auradon, she had sung with the Dark Rulers. Now, she was singing with new singers: Gladiola Trollkonge, Willywaffle Wonka, Martin Fiske, and Ruby Kyle. Sirenius Dazzle and Dusk Shimmer hit the DJ music and Alva hit the lights with the electric currents, creating neon lights.

Melody: _We did it again, we faced the impossible._

 _They said we couldn't face the odds, but we did it all._

 _In the end, we become victorious!_

Martin: _There was no need to be perfect,_

 _Since being ourselves brought the best effect._

 _Deep inside, we're all warriors!_

Ruby: _We fought a battle against time!_

Gladiola: _We made it before the last chime._

Willywaffle: _No one can throw us a barrier._

All: _You see us rise above the clouds_

 _We won't fall after what we've done._

 _You see us rise to rule the grounds._

 _You won't stop us from going to the sun._

 _See us rise!_

 _See us rise!_

Martin: _We've had our mistakes, but it was worth it._

 _They tried to shove me but I rose from the dark pit._

 _I find my way through every complicated corridor._

Ruby: _We fought a battle against time!_

Gladiola: _We made it before the last chime._

Willywaffle: _No one can throw us a barrier._

All: _You see us rise above the clouds_

 _We won't fall after what we've done._

 _You see us rise to rule the grounds._

 _You won't stop us from going to the sun._

 _See us rise!_

 _See us rise!_

All: _You see us rise above the clouds_

 _We won't fall after what we've done._

 _You see us rise to rule the grounds._

 _You won't stop us from going to the sun._

 _See us rise!_

 _See us rise!_

The party went well. No one would have imagined Martin singing like a god. Eventually came the time for the reformees to head to the buses or their personal vehicles. They hugged, they promised to exchange letters, and they waved goodbye to their friends from Auradon.

Marius and Penna sat on the roof of the dorms, watching the buses drive off. "Well, this has been a crazy semester," Penna commented.

"Crazier than that for some reason, Naga is now enamored by Impius and we have no idea where they are at this moment?" Marius joked. Penna laughed at his small joke. They sat and watched as the buses finally disappeared and the night became quiet.

"By the way, how's it working out with Sugar Plum? Did she manage to calm down your ancestors?" Penna asked.

"Yes. With my intervention, I managed to appease their anger on her. I also told them to remove off their further arrangement..."

"What?" Penna asked. Marius asked his ancestors to cancel the 'thing' they had set up between Marius and her. Before she could say anything else, Marius got up, took Penna by the hand, and pulled her up so that she could stand up and look at him in the eye.

"Because I want to do it myself." The prince knelt down and held out his hand. With his new magic, he created a ring made of elder wood and a blooming Night Violet jewel.

"Penelope Svjetla Marvolo Riddle," he told the speechless, blushing sorceress, "will you marry me and become my queen?"

 _Meanwhile_

After all those long festivities, Mal decided for some reason that she'd help out one of Penna's old friends in settling into the guest rooms Ben had provided them.

"So you're the great-granddaughter of Nicolas Flamel?" Mal asked fascinated as she flipped through the witch's thick manuscript. "And you've been trying to document Penna's whole life?"

"Years of following her adventures as she became one of the most famous witches in the world!" Ms. Flamel exclaimed. "The artifact collecting, the teaching, her battles against other dark wizards, and how she brought forth some of the world's greatest villains!"

Mal smiled but then froze when she landed on a page. "Wait... is that my mom? With Penna?" She stared at a wizard photo of Penna and a younger Maleficent in what looked like a range of snowy mountains.

"Oh, yes!" Ms. Flamel said. "Melanie was her name. A Muggle-born witch, mind you. She was such a pupil. Oddly low-talented but ambitious until Penna let her come with her to a trip to the Nepalese mountains. It's where Pénélope fought the necessary enchanted yeti stones to create the special core for your mother's scepter."

 **The End... or Is It?**

 **Note from the author: no need to recap the list of descendants, we've known them for three years.**

 **But now, for a special treat. Before I post my last Descendants fanfiction, I will post an upcoming story called THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PENNA DE MORT, a Descendants and Fantastic Beasts crossover that recounts Penna's past and how she became the princess of evil.**

 **And to the future inconvenienced readers, I apologize if I had to bend the rules in my alternate Wizarding World.**

 **A small trailer.**

The view goes to Hogwarts, back in the beginning of the 20th century.

" _I'll never forget how I first came to Hogwarts when I was eleven..._ "

The grand hall doors open and all the students and teachers watched Penelope sit on her stool, prepared to get sorted by the Sorting Hat.

" _It was no surprise to anyone that I ended up in Slytherin... but even they were too terrified of me."_

Some Gryffindor students ran through the halls and shoved Penelope as she passed them.

" _But then again..."_

Penna walked through a street full of dead Aurors.

" _Did anyone predict what I'd become?_ "

Penna roars in pain as she unfolds her wings for the first time and flies off from Hogwarts. The scenes flash through urban cities, country sides, and landscapes while grey clouds begin to rise.

" _These are dark times we live in!_ " A wizard official shouted. " _Around the world are dark witches and wizards lurking, killing our kind and murdering Muggles! The Unforgiving Siblings!"_

A trio of siblings blasts a series of curses at Penna, only for her to keep them at bay.

" _Grindelwald!_ "

Grindelwald clashed with Penna and Newt Scamander in a cave full of blue fire. Penna ran on top of a Parisian roof and jumped off before Grindelwald's daughter could catch her. Penna spread her wings and took flight.

" _And of course, Voldemort and his bastardly offspring!_ "

Toddler Penelope looked in fear at her father as he placed a man on a table and looked at her with a glare ordering her to kill the man.

" _Doesn't your old man think he's over doing it? Just a bit too much?_ " Jacob Kowalski cautiously asked Penna.

" _At this rate, I hardly think of my creator as my father,_ " Penna shook her head.

Back in Hogwarts, a happy younger Penelope watched Dumbledore as he taught her how to create a Patronus.

Penna De Mort and Melanie (a younger Maleficent) stood by some opening gates and a yeti greeted them. A giant squid swam around in a lake and Penna was in a room, giving a seashell to a young witch. Upon arriving at Ilvermorny, the school's doors opened up immediately for Penna.

" _You do realize that the doors open solely to relatives to the founders of our school?"_ Madam Occamy asked. She stared at the window in her Transfigurations classroom. " _It means that you are a member of the Gaunt family. You are a descendant of Salazar Slytherin!_ "

Penna and Bloodyle engaged in a battle with Cyrielle Black and Sternia Snape on top of Big Ben. A young witch flew her broomstick across a Quidditch field and sprinkled blue poppy powder over her opponents. Naga coiled herself until she turned into a human attacking some Aurors.

" _Frankly? Everyone else is more occupied by the fact that I'm related to the world's darkest wizard._ " Penna said over dinner. " _Besides, they keep forgetting that my mother was a demon and my ancestor is one of the founders of Hogwarts._ "

Penna screamed as magic veins grew from her and she challenged her father.

 **THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PENNA DE MORT**

" _Newt..._ " Penna and Newt stepped inside his house and saw the whole place being messed up by multiple baby Nifflers. " _Please tell me that your Niffler just played with your wand and got hit by a Gemino spell._ "

" _No, he's just been very busy lately._ "

Penna twirled her fingers and used magic to force the Niffler babies back in their litter box. " _And people wonder why I'm so comfortable sharing a den with snakes._ "

 **COMING SOON**


End file.
